THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

UNIVKRS1TY 
OP    GAL  IFOR" 


THE      'NOVIK 


\ 


THE  "NOVIK" 

AND   THE  PART  SHE  PLAYED   IN 
THE  RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR,   1904 


BY  LIEUTENANT  A.  P.  STEER 

IMPERIAL  RUSSIAN  NAVY 


TRANSLATED   BY 

L.  A.  B. 

TRANSLATOR  AND   EDITOR  OF   "RASPLATA1 


NEW   YORK 

E.   P.   DUTTON   AND   COMPANY 
1913 


Copyright  by  Augustin  Challamel,  Paris 


S*l 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

MY  cordial  thanks  are  due  to  Captain 
de  Balincourt  of  the  French  Navy,  who 
rendered  the  book  into  French,  for 
kindly  permitting  me  to  translate  it  into 
English. 

L.  A.  B. 


PREFACE 

THE  author  of  this  little  work,  Andrew 
Petrovitch  Steer,  was  born  in  1878. 
Entering  the  Imperial  Navy,  he  became 
Sub-Lieutenant  in  1897,  Lieutenant  in 
1901.  In  December  1903  he  joined  the 
3rd  class  cruiser  Novik,  Commander 
von  Essen,  of  the  Pacific  Squadron, 
after  previous  service  on  that  station 
in  the  Djigit  and  Rossia.  Between 
March  1905  and  March  1906  Steer  com- 
manded the  submarines  Delphin  and 
Som  at  Vladivostok.  Returning  to  St. 
Petersburg,  he  commanded  a  torpedo- 
boat  in  home  waters  for  a  year,  then,  in 
February  1907,  once  more  proceeded  to 
Vladivostok  to  assume  command  of  the 

destroyer  Skory.     On  17th  October  the 
* 


vi  PREFACE 

same  year  the  crew  mutinied,  and  a 
petty  officer  shot  Steer  dead  while  in 
bed  in  his  cabin. 

Readers  of  Easplata  will  find  many  of 
Semenoff's  statements  corroborated  in 
this  account,  which  was  written  soon 
after  the  war  was  over,  with  the  princi- 
pal object  of  setting  right  the  many 
incorrect  or  purely  fanciful  statements 
which  had  appeared  in  the  Russian 
Press. 

It  is  believed  that  Steer  never  saw 
any  of  Semenoff's  books. 

L.  A.  B. 

October  1912. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK  IN  THE  NIGHT 

OF  FEBRUARY  8-9,  1904        .  .        i 

II.  ACTION  OF  FEBRUARY  9,  1904  .  .       14 

III.  THE    SQUADRON    AWAITING    ADMIRAL 
MAKAROFF'S  ARRIVAL — THE  FIRE- 
SHIPS  .  .  .  .  .27 

IV.  ARRIVAL    OF    ADMIRAL    MAKAROFF  — 

BOMBARDMENT  BY  INDIRECT  FIRE — 
THE  Loss  OF  THE  "  PETROPAVLOVSK  "      48 

V.  THE    BATTLESHIPS     "HATSUSE"     AND 

"YASHIMA"     BLOW     UP  —  Loss    OF 

"  YENISSEI  "  AND  "  BOYARIN  "  .       73 

VI.  THE  SHIPS  CANNONADE  THE  JAPANESE 

TROOPS — THE   SQUADRON   SAILS  ON 
JUNE  23  .  .  91 

VII.  NAVAL  ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10.  .     in 

VIII.  THE    LAST    DAYS    OF    THE    "Novm" 

UNDER   THE   RUSSIAN    FLAG    .  .130 

IX.  ACROSS  SAGHALIEN       .  .  .154 


THE    'NOVIK" 

CHAPTER    I 

THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK  IN  THE  NIGHT 
OF  FEBRUARY  8-9,  1904 

I  ALWAYS  look  back  with  a  feeling  of 
bitterness  to  the  time  of  my  service  in 
the  cruiser  Novik  at  Port  Arthur.  I 
still  feel  the  sting  of  that  indescribable 
ill-will  of  which  our  squadron  was  the 
object,  and  I  can  still  hear  the  echo  of 
that  libellous  legend  to  the  effect  that 
the  Japanese  were  able  to  carry  out 
their  torpedo  attack  so  easily  because 
our  officers  were  feasting  and  dancing 
on  shore  at  the  house  of  Admiral 
Starck,  who  then  commanded  the 


2         THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK 

squadron.  But  what  is  still  more 
astounding  to  me  is  that  a  public,  which 
had  so  readily  swallowed  so  preposterous 
a  tale,  received  with  a  sceptical  smile 
on  its  lips  not  only  the  contradictions 
which  we  sent  to  the  entire  Press,  but 
even  a  letter  of  protestation  written  by 
Madame  Starck ;  so  much  so  that  to 
the  present  day  our  conduct  on  that 
occasion  is  made  the  subject  of  the  most 
disagreeable  comment. 

One  moment's  reflection  should  con- 
vince any  honest  person  that,  ball  or 
no  ball,  the  sequence  of  events  would 
have  been  precisely  the  same.  Let  us 
consider  the  first  incident  :  the  admiral's 
entertainment  on  shore.  Whoever  pos- 
sesses the  most  elementary  knowledge 
of  the  navy  and  the  life  on  board,  is 
aware  of  the  fact  that  permission  to 
go  on  shore  is  given  only  by  the  second- 
in-command,  who  keeps  the  captain 
informed  ;  that  an  immutable  regula- 


WATCH-KEEPING  3 

tion  demands  that  one-half  of  the  officers 
shall  always  be  on  board  ;  and  that  the 
captain  and  his  second-in-command 
may  never  go  on  shore  at  the  same  time 
—excepting,  of  course,  in  small  craft, 
like  destroyers,  torpedo-boats,  gunboats, 
etc.  On  board  all  men-of-war  watch- 
keeping  duties  are  carried  out  by  one, 
and  most  of  the  time  by  two  officers 
(if  the  numbers  of  these  permit),  who 
not  only  may  not  go  on  shore,  but  who 
may  not  leave  the  bridge  or  upper 
deck,  who  have  their  meals  only  after 
they  have  been  relieved ;  a  fortiori,  they 
may  not  "  turn  in."  To  admit  for  one 
moment  that  the  officers  of  the  watch 
were  not  at  their  stations  appears  to 
me  monstrous ;  to  bring  this  about,  the 
whole  of  the  senior  officers  must  have 
connived  at  it.  But  this  is  not  all  : 
in  addition  to  the  officer  actually  on 
watch  there  must  always  be  on  board 
two  other  officers  :  the  one  who  has 


4         THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK 

just  come  off  watch  and  the  one  about 
to  relieve  the  deck.  I  think  I  have 
shown  conclusively  that  the  whole  of  the 
officers  could  not  have  been  on  shore, 
even  supposing  that  all  the  captains,  in 
a  fit  of  extreme  good-nature,  had  de- 
liberately shut  their  eyes.  Together 
with  the«officer  of  the  watch  there  are 
also  on  duty  a  certain  number  of  men, 
including  signalmen,  whose  business  it 
is  to  keep  a  close  watch  on  all  that  is 
going  on  at  the  anchorage  and  in  the 
offing.  Even  if,  in  times  of  peace,  the 
whole  of  the  officers  of  a  ship  had  been 
dancing  on  shore,  enough  people  would 
have  remained  on  board  to  ensure  the 
safety  of  the  vessel. 

On  going  over  my  correspondence,  I 
chanced  upon  one  of  my  letters  dated 
from  the  Novik  on  5th  February  ;  in  it 
I  complain  that  for  several  days  past 
we  had  been  ordered  to  be  on  board 
by  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  I 


PRECAUTIONS  5 

mention  that  an  officer,  who  arrived 
all  out  of  breath  at  the  landing-place, 
from  which  his  ship's  boat  had  only 
just  shoved  off,  had  hailed  it  and  made 
it  come  back  for  him.  But  the  admiral, 
who  had  most  unfortunately  overheard 
the  whole  thing,  sent  a  reprimand  to 
the  captain  the  next  morning  for  slack- 
ness in  carrying  out  his  orders.  It  is 
quite  clear,  therefore,  that  on  the 
evening  of  8th  February  all  our  officers 
had  been  on  board  since  eight  o'clock, 
and  that  the  admiral  never  dreamt  for 
a  moment  of  inviting  anyone  to  dance 
at  his  house.  I  would  add  that,  although 
hostilities  had  not  officially  broken  out, 
the  defences  of  the  anchorage  had 
been  strengthened  and  all  lookouts 
doubled.  A  proportion  of  the  guns 
were  kept  loaded,  ammunition  handy, 
bugles  and  drums  for  calling  to  quar- 
ters at  the  officer  of  the  watch's 
elbow. 


6         THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK 

It  may  be  asked :  How  was  it  possible 
for  the  Japanese  destroyers  to  approach 
without  having  been  made  out  ?  Or 
were  they  seen  too  late  ?  I  have  no 
difficulty  in  replying  to  this.  Let  us 
imagine  that  we  are  taking  part  in  one 
of  these  big  "  battues  "  in  a  forest.  An 
old  sportsman  has  as  his  neighbour  in 
the  line  of  guns  a  novice  at  the  game, 
to  whom  he  explains  that  so  long  as  the 
line  of  beaters  has  not  begun  to  advance, 
there  is  no  need  to  worry.  Still  the 
novice  loads  and  cocks  his  gun,  while 
his  mentor  repeats  that  the  beaters  are 
still  too  far  off  and  that  the  game  is  not 
yet  on  the  move.  As  the  young  man 
persists,  he  is  told  bluntly  to  keep  quiet, 
to  sit  down  and  light  his  pipe,  that  the 
big  game  won't  come  upon  him  with- 
out some  warning,  that  he  will  see  the 
ground  game  come  along  first.  The 
words  are  hardly  spoken  before  a  wild 
boar  charges  past,  amidst  the  noise  of 


NO  WARNING  7 

broken  branches.  Our  young  friend 
loses  his  head,  but  manages  to  get  off 
a  snap-shot,  though  too  late  :  the 
animal  is  already  out  of  range.  Furious, 
he  turns  round  to  upbraid  the  old  sports- 
man, but  the  latter  has  prudently  dis- 
appeared and  his  voice  is  presently 
heard  retailing  the  incident  to  some  of 
his  friends.  Well,  this  is  exactly  what 
happened  to  us  at  Port  Arthur.  We 
ought  to  have  been  told  over  and 
over  again  that  war  might  break 
out  at  any  time,  that  we  ought  to 
take  proper  precautions  and  redouble 
our  vigilance.  On  the  contrary,  we 
were  assured  that  there  would  be 
no  war,  and  that  everyone  being  at 
peace  we  could  sleep  soundly  in  our 
beds. 

To  accuse  the  admiral  commanding 
the  squadron  would  be  unjust,  for  he 
was  not  in  supreme  command,  and  re- 
sponsibility must  be  looked  for  higher 


8        THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK 

up.  I  know  perfectly  well  that  a  junior 
flag  officer  can  show  a  certain  amount 
of  initiative,  but  one  has  no  right  to 
demand  it,  especially  as  there  was  at 
Port  Arthur  a  Viceroy  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  all  naval  and  military  forces, 
who  alone  was  in  a  position  to  warn 
the  squadron  that  war  was  imminent. 
Precisely  on  that  day,  8th  February, 
at  11  p.m.,  his  chief  of  the  staff  had 
come  on  board  the  flagship  with  a 
telegram  from  St.  Petersburg  giving  the 
assurance  that  the  negotiations  were 
going  well  and  that  any  fear  of  armed 
conflict  was  mere  chimera.  Exactly 
one  hour  and  a  half  later  the  first  guns 
went  off ! 

As  the  people  who  had  telegraphed 
from  St.  Petersburg  were  negotiating  on 
their  own  account,  without  condescend- 
ing to  consult  those  who,  being  on  the 
spot,  thoroughly  knew  the  situation,  we 
have  no  right  to  put  the  responsibility 


LULLED  TO  SLEEP  9 

on  Admiral  Alexeieff,  in  fact  we 
ought  to  go  higher  still.  However, 
I  observe  that  I  have  already  said 
too  much  and  that  it  would  be  danger- 
ous for  me  to  persist  in  this  line  of 
argument. 

The  squadron  was  thus  in  the  position 
of  that  young  sportsman  to  whom  one 
had  repeated  ad  nauseam  that  he  had 
ample  time,  and  who  nevertheless,  on 
his  own  initiative,  had  loaded  his 
gun. 

How  could  we  possibly  be  expected 
to  assume  that  at  the  very  moment 
when  we  were  reading  these  reassuring 
telegrams  from  St.  Petersburg  the 
Japanese  destroyers  were  actually  a 
few  miles  off  and  heading  straight  for 
us  ?  Was  it  therefore  not  perfectly 
natural  that  we  mistook  them  for  our 
own,  who,  we  knew,  had  gone  out  scout- 
ing ?  The  enemy  had  thus  already 
attained  one-half  of  his  object  :  our 


10      THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK 

outermost  ships,  after  a  moment  of 
very  natural  hesitation,  had  opened 
fire,  while  the  remainder,  anchored  in 
three  or  four  columns  (an  arrangement 
which  certainly  would  not  have  been 
made  if  an  attack  had  been  expected), 
were  asking  themselves  with  consterna- 
tion at  whom  or  at  what  these  could 
possibly  be  firing. 

I  had  the  middle  watch  that  night 
[midnight  to  4  a.m.].  The  drummer 
was  close  to  me  and  at  the  first  gun  I 
shouted  to  him  to  beat  to  quarters.1 
The  captain  and  officers  rushed  on  deck, 
asking  me  what  all  the  excitement  was 
about.  No  sooner  had  the  former  seen 
the  flash  of  our  guns  than  he  gave  orders 
to  light  fires  in  all  boilers,  and  that  is 
why,  when  the  admiral  at  last  made 
up  his  mind  to  make  a  general  signal 
to  that  effect,  we  were  already  under 

1  [In  the  Russian  Navy  our  old  custom  still  obtains 
of  beating  to  quarters  on  the  drum.] 


'  TOO  SOON  '  11 

steam,  and  weighed  at  once  so  as  to 
fall  upon  the  enemy.  Alas  !  The  bird 
had  flown ! 

I  was  assured  later  on  that  Admiral 
Starck  had  requested  in  writing  the 
Viceroy's  permission  to  make  all 
necessary  preparations  for  action, 
also  to  modify  the  complicated  plan 
of  anchorage,  which  was  barely  per- 
missible in  times  of  peace,  seeing 
how  the  vessels  were  masking  one 
another. 

The  Viceroy,  it  is  said,  merely  returned 
the  paper  with  the  marginal  note  :  "  Too 
soon."  The  chief  of  the  staff,  who 
I  trust  has  preserved  so  important  a 
document,  would  alone  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  guarantee  the  truth  of  this.  In 
my  opinion  the  blame  for  this  blunder 
should  be  divided  between  the  two  flag 
officers  :  the  admiral  commanding  the 
squadron  had  no  need  to  ask  permission 
to  carry  out  that  which  was  altogether 


12       THE  TORPEDO  ATTACK 

his  business,  but  the  moment  he  thought 
fit  to  do  so,  the  Viceroy  should  not  have 
replied  with  a  negative.  Had  the  ships 
been  anchored  in  a  single  line  parallel 
with  the  coast,  an  attack  by  torpedo- 
craft  need  not  have  troubled  them  much. 
The  attacks  in  the  night  of  23rd  to  24th 
June  proved  this.  It  was  when  anchored 
on  such  a  plan  that  we  successfully  beat 
off  the  attacks  which  were  delivered 
continuously  from  sunset  to  sunrise 
by  a  host  of  destroyers,  who  paid  dearly 
for  their  tenacity.  Not  one  of  them 
ever  got  within  effective  torpedo  range. 
I  should  add  that  our  ships'  companies, 
who  had  not  turned  in  that  night,  lulled 
by  pacific  telegrams  from  St.  Peters- 
burg, were  indeed  on  the  qui  vive.  In 
the  attack  of  8th  to  9th  February  not 
one  of  our  vessels  was  sunk,  and  the 
damage  was  repaired  in  an  astonishingly 
short  space  of  time,  seeing  how  feeble 
the  resources  of  Port  Arthur  were. 


NO  VESSEL  SUNK  13 

Why  not  admit  at  once  that  we  might 
very  easily  have  been  sent  to  the  bottom, 
one  by  one,  if  our  men  had  not  been 
at  their  stations  and  had  not  done  their 
duty  conscientiously  ? 


CHAPTER   II 

ACTION  or  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

HOSTILITIES  effectively  commenced  on 
that  date.  The  night  torpedo  attack 
was  not,  strictly  speaking,  an  act  of 
war ;  it  was  at  the  best  a  ruse,  quite  as 
useful  as  it  was  dishonest,  invented  for 
the  purpose  of  making  the  war  inevit- 
able. The  English,  it  is  true,  have  said 
that  they  would  have  acted  exactly  as 
the  Japanese  did,  but  then  the  English 
have  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  ever  been 
held  up  as  models  of  courtesy  in  their 
dealings  with  other  Powers.  Did  they 
not  express  great  surprise  at  our  not 
having  sunk  in  the  Mediterranean  (by 
mere  "  accident,"  of  course)  the  cruisers 


4  ENEMY  IN  SIGHT  '  15 

Nishin  and  Kasuga,  which  the  Japanese 
had  bought  from  the  Argentines  ? 

In  the  early  morning  of  9th  February, 
Admiral  Starck  had  gone  ashore  to  give 
the  Viceroy  a  full  account  of  all  that 
had  happened  during  the  night,  when 
Japanese  cruisers  were  sighted  on  the 
horizon,  come  to  take  stock  of  the 
results  of  their  night  attack.  Received 
by  a  violent  cannonade  of  our  squadron, 
they  retired  with  the  satisfactory  feeling 
of  having  carried  out  their  duty,  with 
the  added  conviction  that  thanks  to 
their  enterprise  we  were  now  several 
units  short.  Soon  afterwards  numerous 
columns  of  smoke  appeared  above  the 
horizon  at  different  points  :  the  con- 
centration of  the  fleet  of  Japan  was  an 
accomplished  fact ! 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  Bayan  steamed 
towards  us  at  full  speed  flying  the 
signal,  "  The  enemy  is  heading  for 
Port  Arthur  in  strength."  Our  admiral 


16  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

had  only  just  time  to  jump  into  his  boat 
and  to  make  us  weigh  for  our  first 
action  in  the  war. 

Notwithstanding  that  three  of  our 
big  ships  had  been  seriously  injured  a 
few  hours  ago,  we  were,  though  inferior 
in  numbers,  in  a  much  better  position 
than  our  adversaries,  who  had  come  so 
close  that  the  greater  part  of  our  coast 
batteries  could  have  joined  in  the  action. 
We  felt  that  we  had  behind  us  a  fortress 
whose  confidence  and  warlike  ardour 
were  unimpaired,  whereas  any  damaged 
Japanese  vessel,  being  far  from  home, 
had  no  other  refuge  but  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  The  moral  effect  of  this  was 
enormous. 

The  enemy  had  to  divide  his  shots 
between  our  ships  and  the  works  on  the 
seafront.  Hence  on  this  occasion  he 
was  unable  to  carry  out  any  concentra- 
tion of  fire.  It  was,  however,  only  much 
later  that  he  discovered  the  advantage 


FIRST  DAMAGES  17 

of  a  method  which  he  subsequently 
made  much  use  of.  His  fire,  badly 
corrected,  was  a  long  way  short,  and 
the  few  projectiles  which  reached  us  did 
not  do  very  much  damage. 

Nevertheless,  the  Novik,  having  been 
struck  by  an  8-inch  shell,  had  to  retire 
precipitately  into  port,  where  she  re- 
mained for  ten  days  making  good  her 
damages. 

Our  being  put  out  of  action  was,  in 
spite  of  all  the  captain's  valour,  an 
event  of  very  small  importance.  The 
six  4-7-inch  guns  which  formed  our 
armament  did  not  permit  us  to  pretend 
to  "  lie  in  the  line."  In  truth,  we  were 
merely  a  tolerably  good  fleet  scout,  but 
especially  a  good  "  destroyer  of  de- 
stroyers "  ;  such,  at  least,  was  the 
opinion  of  the  Japanese  destroyers, 
whose  bugbear  we  speedily  became. 
From  this  first  engagement  on,  our 
reputation  was  established. 


18  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

With  guns  which  were  as  nothing 
compared  to  those  of  the  Japanese 
armoured  ships,  our  intrepid  captain 
never  hesitated  to  throw  himself  at 
them  full  tilt,  and  he  only  turned  off  at 
the  shortest  range  which  I  have  been 
able  to  observe  throughout  the  campaign. 
It  is  therefore  to  him  alone  that  our 
celebrity  was  due. 

I  must  state  once  more  that,  notwith- 
standing our  weakness,  we  were  that 
day  in  a  better  position  than  our 
adversaries.  Who  was  it,  then,  who 
allowed  an  opportunity  to  slip  by  which 
was  never  to  occur  again  ?  The  admiral 
commanding  the  squadron  or  the  Vice- 
roy, who  had  assumed  control  of  the 
action  from  the  heights  of  Golden  Hill  ? 

The  entire  Japanese  fleet  steamed 
past  us  in  one  well-kept  line  ahead, 
the  cruisers  bringing  up  the  rear ;  always 
following  in  the  wake  of  their  battleships, 
they  very  quietly  steamed  away,  com- 


LOST  OPPORTUNITIES        19 

plete  in  numbers,  after  they  had 
traversed  the  arc  of  fire  of  our  guns 
ashore  and  afloat.  Any  sea  officer 
with  the  slightest  notion  of  what  war 
meant,  or  simply  possessing  some 
energy,  would  not  have  hesitated  to 
fall  upon  this  tail  of  the  line,  so  as  to 
cut  it  off  from  the  main  body,  which 
would  then  have  been  obliged  to  turn 
back.  Everyone  was  expecting  this 
manoeuvre,  when  the  signal  was  broken : 
"  Destroyers  to  attack  the  enemy." 
This  was  sheer  folly,  seeing  that  it  was 
absolutely  impossible  for  the  small 
flotilla  we  possessed  to  get  unharmed 
within  torpedo  range  in  broad  daylight. 
This  signal,  which  was  negatived  after 
some  moments  of  hesitation,  before  even 
our  destroyers  could  get  under  weigh, 
had  only  served  to  furnish  the  proof  that 
our  leaders  had  on  that  day  lost  all 
judgment. 

As  was  only  to  be  expected,  the  Japan- 


20  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

ese  squadron  had  prudently  retired, 
after  having  satisfied  themselves  that 
nothing  more  was  to  be  got  out  of  us. 
They  did  not  intend  returning  for  some 
time,  as  several  of  their  damaged  ships 
had  been  obliged  to  make  for  home. 

To  the  present  day  I  remain  con- 
vinced that,  if  instead  of  obstinately 
sticking  to  a  passive  defence,  we  had 
shown  the  slightest  spirit  of  enterprise, 
things  might  in  the  end  have  perfectly 
well  turned  to  our  advantage. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  for  anyone 
who  is  actually  engaged  in  a  fight  to 
analyse,  and  above  all  to  remember, 
the  impressions  which  follow  one 
another  too  rapidly  to  leave  behind 
anything  but  a  hazy  recollection  of  a 
large  number  of  projectiles,  some  of 
which  pitch  into  the  sea,  throwing  up 
huge  columns  of  water,  sometimes  so 
near  that  everything  is  drenched,  whilst 
others  strike  the  ship  direct,  causing  a 


FEELINGS  IN  ACTION         21 

general  upheaval.  The  brain  overflows 
with  the  thoughts  which  crowd  in  on 
it.  Occupied  with  the  search  for  means 
to  stop  the  sudden  inrush  of  water 
somewhere  below,  one  unconsciously 
shudders  at  the  dull  roar  of  a  big  pro- 
jectile passing  overhead,  or  at  the 
groans  of  some  wounded  close  by ;  the 
stampede  of  the  stretcher  party  hustles 
you  ;  the  deafening  sound  of  your  own 
guns  momentarily  obliterates  the  distant 
thunder  of  those  of  the  enemy.  The 
agonising  thought  that  death  is  near, 
or  that  it  will  be  your  turn  next  to  be 
mutilated,  grips  you  by  the  throat  and 
to  some  extent  clouds  your  brain, 
without  however  preventing  your  keep- 
ing your  head  sufficiently  to  attend  to 
cases  of  minor  damage,  to  watch  the 
effect  of  your  fire,  correct  the  ranges — 
and  somehow  the  time  does  pass.  How 
shall  I  manage  to  give  more  than  a 
very  vague  description  of  what  struck 


22  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

my  senses,  when  all  that  is  left  in  my 
innermost  being  is  the  firm  conviction 
that  modern  war,  especially  at  sea,  is 
an  abomination  ? 

The  fate  of  a  battle  does  not,  so  to 
speak,  depend  on  individuals  :  the 
commander-iii-chief  alone  has  it  in  his 
hands.  By  this  I  don't  mean  that  the 
skill  of  the  gunlayer,  the  correct  estimate 
of  the  range,  and  generally  the  systematic 
control  of  fire  do  not  play  an  important 
part,  but  this  part  is  completely  thrown 
away  if  the  admiral  hesitates  to  force 
home  the  attack  and  confines  himself  to 
warding  off  the  enemy's  blows  with  the 
indolent  gesture  with  which  one  drives 
off  a  troublesome  fly.  Now  this  gesture 
very  accurately  sums  up  all  our  tactics 
off  Port  Arthur.  Not  once  did  our 
leaders  really  assume  the  offensive. 
Their  sole  object  apparently  was,  so  far 
as  possible,  to  keep  their  materiel,  their 
personnel,  and  above  all  their  own 


MODERN  TACTICS  23 

precious  skins  out  of  harm's  way.  And 
in  the  end  all  these  precautions  led  them 
directly  to  exactly  the  opposite  result. 

The  single  line  ahead,  to  which  we 
persistently  clung  throughout  the  cam- 
paign,   destroyed    the    initiative,    the 
courage,  and  the  individuality   of  the 
captains,  who  were  reduced  to  sticking 
to  their  bridges,   there  to  await  with 
stoicism  the   fatal    shot.     The   officers 
became  simple  machines,  playing  their 
part  as    at    General  Exercise.     Nowa- 
days there  is  no  room  afloat  for  that 
dash,  that  moral  support,  which  is  so 
invaluable  in  a  land  fight.     On  the  other 
hand,   in  a   duel   between  two   vessels 
a  captain  can  use  his  skill  in  taking  up 
a   more   advantageous   position.      Still, 
naval    war    conditions    have    been    so 
altered   for    some    time    past   that   he 
could  hardly  hope  to  repeat  the  brill- 
iant manoeuvres  of  the  sailing-ship  days. 
Everything  depends  on  the  number  of 


24  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

lucky  hits.  The  bravery  or  cowardice 
of  the  crew  are  of  no  account.  If  the 
poltroons  (and  there  always  are  some) 
wished  to  save  themselves  or  to  hide 
in  a  corner,  that  would  not  help  them 
in  the  very  least.  Their  fate  is  fixed 
in  advance  :  if  beaten,  unless  killed 
before  the  final  issue,  they  will  be 
drowned  like  the  ships'  companies  of 
the  Souvaroff,  the  Borodino,  and  the 
Alexander  III.  Individual  bravery  only 
helps  to  cut  a  fine  figure  and  to  look 
calmly  at  death  or  the  horrible  sights 
which  one  is  forced  to  witness — and 
that  is  why  naval  war  is  so  revolting. 
On  land  one  can  attribute  that  madness 
to  kill,  the  kind  of  murder  which  one 
indulges  in,  to  nervous  excitement,  to 
the  sight  of  an  adversary  close  by,  and 
finally  to  that  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion which  bids  you  kill  your  neighbour, 
so  as  not  to  be  butchered  by  him  like 
a  sheep.  At  sea,  on  the  other  hand, 


THE  BAND  25 

it  is  cold-blooded,  calculated  killing; 
death  hurled  from  a  distance  of  five  or 
six  miles  and  more,  at  a  man  whom  one 
does  not  see,  whom  one  will  never  see, 
and  whose  ship  one  can  barely  make 
out. 

When  the  Novik  left  Germany,  where 
she  had  been  built,  the  captain  and 
officers  had,  at  their  own  expense, 
started  a  band,  which  had  a  great 
influence  on  the  ship's  company.  After 
the  action  we  steamed  into  harbour  with 
the  band  playing  the  National  Anthem, 
which  brought  on  general  cheering,  es- 
pecially in  the  coast  batteries,  from 
where  the  whole  scene  of  the  action 
could  be  seen.  According  to  them,  we 
had  approached  the  enemy  so  near 
(especially  by  comparison  with  the  other 
ships)  that  it  was  believed  we  intended 
to  torpedo  them,  and  with  the  assistance 
of  a  certain  amount  of  imagination 
some  of  the  men  even  pretended  they 
3 


26  FEBRUARY  9,  1904 

had  seen  one  of  the  Japanese  vessels  go 
down  under  our  attack.  Our  band- 
master (an  ordinary  civilian)  had  scorned 
our  offer  to  discharge  him  to  the  shore, 
and  had  asked  leave  to  exchange  his 
baton  for  a  rifle,  so  as  to  enable  him  to 
remain  on  board. 

The  same  evening  the  Novik  was 
taken  into  the  dockyard  to  have  a 
number  of  damaged  plates  on  her  side 
replaced.  Thanks  to  frantic  efforts, 
which  lasted  through  ten  days  and  ten 
nights,  the  leaks  were  made  tight,  and 
the  Japanese  had  the  disagreeable  sur- 
prise of  seeing  us  once  more  outside ; 
for,  as  they  themselves  admitted,  they 
fully  believed  they  had  sunk  us  the 
previous  week. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  SQUADRON  AWAITING  ADMIRAL 
MAKAROFF'S  ARRIVAL — THE  FIRESHIPS 

AFTER  9th  February  we  were  a  long 
time  without  again  seeing  the  Japanese. 
This  was  a  depressing  time  for  the 
squadron,  which  for  a  fortnight  had 
nothing  on  hand  except  a  few  recon- 
naissances by  the  destroyers,  and  the 
repairs  of  the  torpedoed  ships,  which 
were  splendidly  carried  out.  And  yet 
we  only  had  two  dry  docks  :  both 
useless ;  one  still  in  course  of  con- 
struction, the  other  so  small  that  it  could 
only  just  take  in  a  cruiser.  I  have  been 
assured  that  in  his  capacity  as  Vice- 
roy Admiral  Alexeieff  had  repeatedly 


28     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

demanded  money  for  the  works  in  the 
dockyard,  and  especially  for  the  com- 
pletion of  this  dock,  but  that  St. 
Petersburg  had  always  refused  on  the 
ground  that  all  our  ships  were  prac- 
tically new  and  would  therefore  not 
require  anything,  but  if  any  accident 
were  to  happen  to  one  of  the  battle- 
ships, she  would  be  sent  to  Japan, 
which  was  amply  provided  with  docks 
and  basins  of  all  dimensions.  This  may 
be  a  "  galley  yarn,"  but  it  is  after  all 
very  plausible,  for  we  have  seen  replies 
of  this  kind  take  flight  from  the 
"  Arrow  "  l  of  the  Admiralty.  Having 
no  docks,  we  had  to  make  use  of  ex- 
pedients, in  this  case  "  cofferdams," 
which  we  do  not  pretend  to  have  in- 
vented, and  which  we  thought  had  been 
relegated  to  the  lumber  of  old-world 
contrivances,  as  no  longer  of  use.  So 

1  [Allusion  to  the  gold  arrow  of  the  vane  on  the 
tower  of  the  Admiralty  building  at  St.  Petersburg.] 


COFFERDAMS  29 

far  as  I  know,  they  have  never  before 
been  applied  on  such  a  scale.  We 
started  with  a  failure.  The  first  coffer- 
dam,1 owing  to  an  error  in  calculating 
stresses,  gave  under  the  pressure  of 
water  and  burst.  Our  engineers,  not 
in  the  least  discouraged  by  this,  tried 
again,  and  succeeded  in  completing  their 
task  without  the  slightest  hitch,  and  as 
quickly  as  if  they  had  had  a  dry  dock  at 
their  disposal — in  fact,  even  three  times 
as  quickly,  for  the  Tsesarevitch,  Retvisan, 
and  Pallada,  having  been  damaged  at 
the  same  time,  would  have  had  to  be 
docked  one  after  the  other,  whereas 
now  it  was  possible  to  repair  them  all 
three  simultaneously.  Cofferdams  were 
in  fact  such  a  success  that  they  were 
afterwards  used  even  for  destroyers. 

Interest  was  now  centred  on  the  coast. 
We  expected  that  the  Japanese  would 
effect  a  landing  any  moment.  No  one 

1  [They  are  fully  described  in  Rasplata,  p.  55.] 
3* 


30     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

ignored  the  fact  that  on  shore  nothing 
was  really  ready — neither  batteries  nor 
earthworks — and  that  a  few  pegs  planted 
here  and  there  on  the  heights,  according 
to  a  beautiful  plan,  alone  indicated  our 
good  intentions  as  regards  constructing 
forts  later  on. 

I  observed  that  there  were  two  periods 
of  real  activity.  Immediately  after  the 
torpedo  attack  a  landing  of  the  enemy 
was  generally  expected.  When,  by  and 
by,  it  was  seen  that  the  Japanese, 
evidently  in  no  great  hurry,  began  to 
concentrate  on  the  Yalu,  calm  was 
re-established.  "It  is  pretty  far  off," 
was  said,  "  and  they  won't  have  anyone 
to  spare  to  send  to  Port  Arthur." 
Later  on  there  was  a  sudden  alarm, 
which  brought  about  renewed  activity, 
when,  at  a  moment  when  it  was  least 
expected,  our  land  communications  were 
cut  so  suddenly  that  within  an  ace  the 
Viceroy  was  shut  in  with  us.  The 


NEW  BATTERIES  31 

squadron  now  took  an  active  part  in 
the  defence  in  landing  a  portion  of  its 
guns  for  the  purpose  of  arming  shore 
batteries,  the  cruisers  providing  the 
necessary  working  parties. 

The  Novik  was  told  off  to  construct 
a  battery  of  five  12-pounder  quick-firing 
guns.  Every  morning  one  of  the  lieu- 
tenants took  one-half  of  the  ship's  com- 
pany to  the  works.  To  build  such  a 
battery  is  not  an  easy  matter  for  a  poor 
naval  officer,  whose  sole  technical  equip- 
ment for  such  a  business  are  vague 
recollections  of  his  course  on  fortifi- 
cations at  the  Naval  College,  and  who 
has  at  his  side  neither  a  director  nor 
even  a  simple  adviser.  When  our  pieces 
were  at  last  on  their  mountings,  and  the 
latter  on  their  platforms,  the  one  and 
only  military  engineer  officer,  for  whom 
the  entire  line  of  coast  defences  were  for 
ever  clamouring,  came  to  inspect  the 
result  of  our  labours  and  declared  every- 


32    AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

thing  to  be  perfect,  except  for  one  small 
matter  :  one  gun  which  was  not  able 
to  use  its  whole  arc  of  fire,  and  which  in 
consequence  had  to  be  slightly  shifted. 
For  us  this  work  provided  a  welcome 
change  in  the  enervating  life,  yet  so  full 
of  the  unexpected,  which  we  led,  and 
the  men  seemed  as  delighted  in  their 
occupation  on  shore  as  we.  All  the 
same,  we  had  many  a  time  to  cover  at 
the  double  the  three  miles  which 
separated  us  from  the  Novik,  when  she 
received  unexpected  orders  to  go  out. 
We  used  to  laugh  about  it  then,  but 
now  it  seems  to  me  that  the  authorities 
rather  abused  our  goodwill,  both  ashore 
and  afloat.  For  no  particular  reason, 
up  went  the  signal  :  "  Novik  get  up 
steam."  Someone  fancies  he  can  make 
out  fireships  :  "  Novik  close  the  strange 
sail  and  report."  A  column  of  smoke  is 
seen  on  the  horizon  :  "  Novik  to  weigh." 
The  admiral  has  slept  badly  :  "  Make 


TRANSPORTING  GUNS        33 

the  Novik  go  out."  These  calls  had 
been  so  frequent  that  a  signal-mast 
was  erected  on  Golden  Hill  for  our 
special  benefit.  No  sooner  were  our 
pendants  made  out  on  it  than  officers 
and  men  dropped  everything  and  rushed 
helter-skelter  down  to  the  landing-place. 
One  morning,  while  in  my  bath,  I  saw  our 
pendants  go  up,  and  had  only  just  time 
to  wipe  off  the  soap  and  to  jump  into  my 
clothes,  which  I  had  to  button  on  the  way. 
If  the  sailors  did  not  prove  them- 
selves irreproachable  sappers,  it  must  in 
justice  be  admitted  that  they  showed  in- 
comparable adeptness  in  another  line  : 
the  moving  of  heavy  weights.  It 
seemed  mere  child's  play  to  them  to 
get  a  6-inch  gun  across  the  deep  and 
wide  ditches  of  the  forts.  On  a  certain 
occasion  an  officer  of  Engineers,  who 
had  been  summoned  to  a  consultation, 
after  much  and  deliberate  thinking, 
asked  for  time  to  make  the  necessary 


calculations  which  would  enable  him  to 
say  definitely  whether  the  operation  was 
feasible  or  not.  A  naval  officer  who  was 
waiting  all  the  time  with  his  gun,  merely 
asked  permission  to  "  carry  on."  He  then 
made  the  boatswain  rig  a  pair  of  sheers, 
and  half  an  hour  later  the  gun  was  safe 
on  the  other  side  of  the  ditch,  much  to 
the  delight  of  the  scientist,  who  had 
considered  that  one  could  not  think  of 
rigging  sheers  before  having  minutely 
calculated  their  several  stresses  and 
breaking  strains.  Lieutenant  Komenko 
proved  in  these  circumstances  that  he 
was  as  energetic  as  he  was  competent. 
This  was  all  he  had  for  solving  the 
problem  of  dragging,  with  his  men,  guns 
of  calibres  of  8  to  9  inches,  as  well 
as  their  mountings,  up  considerable 
heights,  so  steep  that  a  man  could  only 
reach  them  by  crawling  on  hands  and 
knees,  clinging  to  the  bushes  and 
bunches  of  grass.  I  have  visited  some 


COLONEL  MULLER  35 

of  these  forts,  amongst  others  the  so- 
called  "  Eagle's  Nest,"  and  can  yet 
not  understand  how  the  Japanese  could 
have  taken  them  by  assault.  It  is  true 
that  they  lost  an  appalling  number  of 
men  over  it,  but  they  must  have  possessed 
an  almost  superhuman  tenacity  of 
purpose  to  climb  these  sheer  heights, 
by  trampling  under  foot  the  bodies  of 
their  fallen  comrades. 

Whilst  at  work  on  the  coast  defences 
I  was  able  to  assure  myself  of  the 
astounding  ignorance  of  the  officer 
commanding  the  artillery  as  to  the  real 
treasures  in  guns  and  ammunition  which 
our  storehouses  contained. 

The  discoveries  of  Colonel  Miiller  of 
the  Marine  Artillery  gave  us  all  the  more 
pleasure  since  General  Biely,  who  had 
not  the  slightest  conception  of  what  we 
really  possessed,  pretended  that,  thanks 
to  one  of  these  magic  wands  which  some 
people  employ  to  find  water,  he  had 


36     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

extracted  from  the  old  Chinese  store- 
houses quantities  of  projectiles,  and  even 
guns,  in  excellent  condition.  As  he 
was  not  at  Port  Arthur  at  the  time  when 
we  took  over  the  place  from  the  Chinese, 
he  might  have  made  this  an  excuse  for 
his  ignorance.  But  how  can  one  con- 
done a  case  of  crass  ignorance  such  as 
the  following  ?  Colonel  Miiller  requiring 
one  day  a  considerable  number  of  carts 
to  transport  ammunition,  knew  where 
they  were  to  be  found.  So  as  not  to 
lose  time,  he  simply  took  them.  Then, 
fearing  that  he  might  get  into  trouble 
over  this  action,  he  subsequently  made 
a  formal  application  for  the  supply  of 
these  carts.  Imagine  his  amazement 
when  next  morning  the  general  replied 
that  as  the  fortress  did  not  possess  a 
single  cart,  he  regretted  that  the  request 
could  not  be  complied  with.  And  all 
this  time  the  said  carts,  full  of  ammuni- 
tion, were  rolling  along  the  road  ! 


OLD  SUBMARINE  37 

This  energy  of  the  colonel's  brought 
about  fresh  surprises  every  day.  As 
soon  as  the  sun  was  up,  he  was  to  be 
found  either  in  a  fort,  on  board  one  of 
the  ships,  or  in  some  workshop,  and 
every  evening  turned  musician,  thus 
whiling  away  the  unoccupied  remnant 
of  his  day.  In  the  forts  he  mounted 
the  guns,  in  the  workshops  he  made 
contrivances  of  his  invention  by  means 
of  which  he  was,  for  instance,  able  to 
extend  the  effective  range  of  the  10-inch 
guns  on  Electric  Hill.  Still  better  :  he 
first  raised  and  then  carried  out  trials 
with  the  submarine  Drezevieky,  which 
had  been  abandoned  long  ago,  and  in 
fact  it  was  thus  that  he  was  nearly 
drowned.  It  was  in  consequence  of 
this  incident  that  the  admiral  forbade 
any  further  dangerous  experiments  of 
the  kind,  not  being  at  all  anxious  to 
lose  so  valuable  an  officer.  It  was  a 
great  pity  that  his  undermined  health 


38     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

forced  him  to  leave  Port  Arthur  before 
he  was  able  to  give  us  all  we  had  a 
right  to  expect  from  such  a  man  as  he. 

To  meet  the  first  attack  of  the  fire- 
ships  we  had,  besides  the  destroyers  and 
coast  batteries,  the  gunboat  on  guard 
duty  outside,  and  the  battleship  Ret- 
visan,  unfortunately  aground  close  to 
the  channel. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  first  attempt 
at  blocking  up  the  harbour  entrance 
took  place  in  the  night  of  23rd  to  24th 
February.  No  one  expected  it.  The 
town,  the  dockyard,  and  the  roadstead 
were  enveloped  in  the  inky  darkness 
of  a  moonless  night.  No  fires,  not  the 
least  glimmer,  all  lights  shaded  by 
shutters  or  hoods.  Consequently  the 
Japanese  had  nothing  to  guide  them. 
Both  ashore  and  afloat  everyone  not  on 
duty  was  asleep.  On  board  the  Ret- 
visan  acting  as  outer  guardship,  a  sharp 
lookout  was  being  kept  for  Japanese 


"FIRESHIPS"  39 

torpedo-craft.  Towards  three  in  the 
morning  I  jumped  out  of  bed  and  went 
on  deck,  very  much  puzzled  as  to 
the  unaccountable  noises  which  had 
awakened  me.  My  eyes  were  dazzled 
by  a  truly  fairylike  scene  :  the  sky,  black 
as  ink,  was  streaked  in  every  direction 
by  the  searchlight  beams  of  the  Retvisan 
and  the  coast  batteries.  The  hilltops 
were  spitting  fire  from  all  the  forts,  and 
the  entire  seafront  reverberated  from 
an  incessant  cannonade.  The  Novik's 
upper  deck  was  in  great  confusion ; 
officers  and  men  all  mixed  up,  and  each 
asking  the  other  what  was  up  :  every 
kind  of  explanation  was  put  forward, 
without  our  being  any  the  wiser. 

Having  gone  aloft,  from  where  I  was 
able  to  overlook  a  portion  of  the  outer 
anchorage,  I  did  not  at  first  see  anything 
but  shell  bursting  in  the  air ;  then 
I  made  out  a  Japanese  three-masted 
steamer  passing  close  to  the  Retvisan, 


40     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

who  had  just  fired  a  salvo  and  managed 
to  place  two  12-inch  shell,  which  went 
off  in  a  prodigious  explosion;  in  an 
instant  the  entire  forepart  of  the  steamer 
was  wrapped  in  one  huge  flame,  which 
brightly  lit  up  all  the  surroundings, 
after  which  the  darkness  seemed  blacker 
than  ever.  We  then  realised  that  the 
Japanese,  in  a  fit  of  mad  pluck,  had 
tried  to  sink  steamers  in  the  narrow 
entrance,  so  as  to  bottle  us  up  in  Port 
Arthur.  It  was  a  critical  moment,  for 
at  all  costs  this  enterprise  had  to  be 
frustrated.  That  night  we  did  not 
husband  our  ammunition,  but  guns 
alone  do  not  suffice  to  stop  a  vessel 
steaming  ahead,  for  only  hits  below 
water  are  of  any  use.  They  are  of  no 
account  above  water,  especially  if  they 
strike  on  the  hull  of  a  steamer  laden 
with  pebbles.  At  most  they  can  produce 
some  effect  on  the  personnel,  but  if  the 
latter  possess  iron  nerves  this  will  not 


BLINDING  LIGHTS  41 

prevent  them  persisting  in  the  task 
they  have  set  themselves.  Luck  was 
on  our  side  :  with  one  exception  all  the 
steamers  ran  aground  on  the  rocks  on 
each  side  of  the  channel.  I  think  we 
must  attribute  this  lucky  result  to  the 
searchlights,  whose  beams  so  blinded 
the  personnel  of  these  vessels  (which,  I 
know  not  why,  were  given  the  pompous 
title  of  "  fireships ")  that  they  could 
not  see  where  they  were  going.  All 
those  who  have  ever  received  a  search- 
light beam  straight  in  the  eye,  know 
to  what  extent  one  immediately  loses 
all  measure  of  distance  and  direction. 
This  blinding  process  simply  paralyses 
one  :  there  is  no  choice  but  to  shut  one's 
eyes  until  these  horrid  rays  have  left 
one.  This  is  what  must  have  happened 
to  the  captains  of  the  "  fireships,"  who, 
blinded  and  not  knowing  where  they 
were  going,  ran  straight  on  the  beach. 
It  needed  the  arrival  of  Admiral 
4 


42     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

Makaroff  to  make  people  understand 
that  guns  alone  were  not  enough  in 
cases  such  as  the  above,  and  that  they 
have  to  be  supplemented  by  other 
measures,  such  as  mooring  contact  mines 
and  closing  the  entrance  with  booms  of 
various  kinds. 

The  width  of  the  channel  was  reduced 
to  what  was  barely  necessary  by  sink- 
ing on  each  side  two  large  and  old 
steamers  filled  up  with  stones  and  rubbish. 
Then  things  became  more  serious.  The 
Japanese  repeatedly  sent  such  "  fire- 
ships,"  all  of  which  grounded  on  these 
artificial  shoals.  Some  of  these  carried 
quantities  of  petroleum,  and  we  were 
therefore  bound  to  assume  that  their 
intention  had  been  to  pour  it  overboard 
burning,  at  the  time  of  the  flood-tide,  so 
as  to  set  fire  to  everything  afloat  and  to 
the  dockyard.  Although  this  was  mere 
hypothesis,  still,  to  provide  for  all  even- 
tualities, a  special  boom  was  placed  in 


PLUCKY  CREWS  43 

position,  consisting  of  an  arrangement 
of  vertical  tin  plates,  intended  to  stop 
any  floating  liquid,  whether  burning 
or  not. 

The  morning  after  this  first  attempt 
at  blocking,  the  Novik  was  sent  to 
Pigeon  Bay,  to  find  out  what  had  become 
of  two  destroyers  sent  there  to  remain 
on  guard  all  night ;  on  our  way  through 
the  roadstead  we  were  able  to  verify 
the  results  of  this  midnight  drama : 
on  the  beach  were  four  steamers,  one  of 
which,  quite  close  to  the  Retvisan,  was 
still  on  fire.  The  sea  was  covered  with 
wreckage  of  every  kind,  boats  that  had 
been  ripped  open,  lifebuoys,  lifebelts, 
etc.  Some  of  the  men  had  perhaps 
managed  to  save  themselves  in  their 
boats,  but  the  greater  part  must  have 
been  drowned  or  killed  by  our  shell. 
We  made  prisoners  of  the  few  Japanese 
who  had  remained  on  board,  but  when 
we  wanted  to  take  them  away  in  our 


.44     AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

boats  things  became  tragic.  Some  of 
them  committed  suicide.  An  officer 
jumped  overboard,  reached  the  shore, 
and  climbed  up  on  the  rocks,  where  he 
defended  himself  like  mad  ;  then,  when 
he  had  fired  away  his  last  cartridge,  he 
tried  to  strangle  himself  with  his  belt, 
and  our  people  only  arrived  just  in  time 
to  prevent  this.  These  were  our  first 
prisoners  of  war  at  Port  Arthur,  and  it 
must  be  confessed,  alas  !  that  we  did 
not  make  many  more  later  on. 

The  Japanese  Press  repeatedly  de- 
clared that  these  fireships  were  manned 
by  volunteers,  who  were  made  to  draw 
lots  as  their  numbers  were  so  great. 
Things  had  gone  quite  differently,  as 
we  found  out  when  we  questioned  our 
prisoners  the  same  morning.  They  had 
been  trapped  on  board  these  ships ; 
they  had  been  given  to  understand  that 
it  was  intended  to  send  back  to  Japan 
these  old  and  useless  vessels.  After 


BEING  CHASED  45 

proceeding  for  some  hours,  course  was 
altered  for  Port  Arthur,  without  telling 
anyone.  I  am  not  very  much  astonished 
at  this,  for  notwithstanding  all  the 
goodwill  and  the  patriotism  of  the 
Japanese,  it  is  difficult  to  admit  that  in 
so  short  a  time  it  had  been  possible  to 
collect  so  many  men  prepared  to  com- 
mit suicide. 

Having  found  our  two  destroyers 
safe  and  sound  in  Pigeon  Bay,  we  took 
them  back  with  us  to  Port  Arthur. 
On  our  way  back l  we  had  a  disagreeable 
surprise  :  four  hostile  cruisers  steaming 
full  speed  so  as  to  cut  us  off  from  our 
base.  We  went  ahead  like  mad.  Orders 
were  given  to  press  the  engines  to  their 
utmost.  Our  only  chances  of  escape 
depended  on  these.  We  ended  by 
passing  through  a  hail  of  projectiles, 
leaving  behind  us  the  Japanese,  who 

1  [Pigeon  Bay  is  round   the  corner  from  the  har- 
bour's mouth.] 
4* 


46    AWAITING  THE  ADMIRAL 

were  greatly  disconcerted  at  seeing  so 
fine  a  prize  escape  them.  Next  morning 
the  enemy's  entire  fleet  appeared  in 
sight  to  verify  the  results  of  the  "  fire- 
ship  "  attack.  So  as  to  prove  to  them 
effectually  how  unsuccessful  they  had 
been,  the  Askold,  Bayan,  and  Novik 
were  sent  out,  and  they  at  once  engaged 
the  enemy's  advanced  ships.  When 
our  three  ships  opened  fire,  our  captain 
asked  permission  to  return  to  port,  in 
view  of  his  vessel's  weakness.  This  was 
negatived.  Realising  then  that  to  re- 
main out  under  these  conditions  would 
only  result  in  the  useless  sinking  of 
one  of  our  vessels,  he  headed  the  Novik 
at  top  speed  for  the  enemy,  with  the 
intention  of  torpedoing  them.  However, 
before  he  was  able  to  carry  out  his 
project  a  signal  was  made  from  the  signal 
station  ordering  us  to  return  immediately 
to  the  anchorage. 

The  Japanese,  who  on  this  occasion 


TWENTY  WRECKS  47 

kept  at  a  respectful  distance  from  our 
shore  batteries,  did  not  reappear  for  a 
long  time.  Still,  they  had  not  given  up 
the  idea  of  bottling  us  up,  and  several 
times  more  sent  off  "  fireships  "  for  that 
purpose  at  night.  At  daylight  the 
following  morning  their  cruisers  used  to 
appear  very  regularly  to  see  what  had 
been  the  result  of  the  attempt,  and 
we  did  not  fail  on  these  occasions  to 
send  out  a  cruiser  or  battleship,  so  as 
to  show  them  quite  unmistakably  that 
the  channel  was  still  clear. 

The  roadstead  of  Port  Arthur  was 
thus  covered  with  the  wrecks  of  over 
twenty  Japanese  vessels,  without  a  single 
one  succeeding  in  blocking  the  channel. 


CHAPTER    IV 

ARRIVAL  OF  ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF — BOM- 
BARDMENT BY  INDIRECT  FIRE — THE 
Loss  OF  THE  "  PETROPAVLOVSK  " 

ALL  February  and  more  passed  in  a 
state  of  inaction  and  awaiting  Admiral 
Makaroff  s  arrival.  The  most  that  was 
ever  done  were  a  few  reconnaissances 
within  a  radius  of  forty  or  fifty  miles 
from  Port  Arthur.  Everything  was 
being  saved  up  against  the  arrival  of 
the  "  Master,"  as  he  was  already  called : 
"  The  Master  who  is  coming  will  judge 
for  himself."  In  fact,  he  did  arrive  on 
7th  March,  and  lost  no  time  in  passing 
judgment  on  a  few,  beginning  with 

Admiral  G.,  the  Superintendent  of  the 

48 


DRASTIC  MEASURES          49 

Dockyard,  whom  he  removed  at  once. 
This  officer  probably  owed  it  to  his 
incapacity  that  he  was  sent  to  Vladi- 
vostok in  a  like  "  capacity."  There, 
during  the  mutiny,  he  took  only  one 
step  on  his  own  initiative  :  to  take 
refuge  with  all  his  staff  on  board  the 
Almaz,  refusing  to  make  the  smallest 
effort  to  suppress  the  revolt,  from  fear  of 
14  encroaching  upon  the  prerogatives  " 
of  the  commandant  of  the  fortress  (he 
said  this  himself).  It  will  be  readily 
understood  that,  once  the  mutiny  was 
quelled,  his  position  became  impossible. 
He  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  St.  Petersburg, 
where  he  was  simply  pitchforked  into 
the  office  of  Superintendent  of  the 
Dockyard  there.  Of  course  I  know  that 
14  dog  won't  eat  dog,"  but,  honestly, 
can  one  ever  hope  to  reform  the  navy 
by  such  manoeuvres  ? 

Admiral  Makaroff's  arrival  shook  up 
the  whole  of  Port  Arthur.     Pronounced 


50         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

partisan  of  cruisers,  he  fixed  his  atten- 
tion at  once  on  the  Askold  and  Novik, 
hoisting  his  flag  in  the  latter  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  closer  examination 
of  the  hostile  squadron,  which  was 
cruising  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
whose  destroyers  he  wished  to  cut  down. 
However,  the  enemy's  main  body  having 
advanced,  he  saw  himself  obliged  to 
turn  back,  which  rather  shook  his  faith 
in  light  vessels.  He  first  shifted  to  the 
Askold,  and  then  to  the  Petropavlovsk, 
and  confessed  in  the  end  that  he  found 
more  peace  on  the  latter,  and  above  all 
was  less  exposed;  for  however  difficult 
it  may  be  to  knock  out  a  properly 
constructed  battleship  by  a  single  hit, 
any  projectile  was  good  enough  to  stop 
the  Novik.  The  commander-in-chief 
must  not  expose  himself  to  such  risks  ; 
not  so  much  on  account  of  his  own  life 
as  in  view  of  the  position  he  occupies. 
The  admiral's  first  care  was  to  teach 


STEAM  EVOLUTIONS          51 

us  the  handling  of  the  ships  in  com- 
pany. It  is  painful  to  have  to  declare 
that  not  one  of  our  captains  had  any 
conception  of  this.  Although  it  went 
against  the  grain,  we  could  not  help 
admiring  the  evolutions  of  the  Japan- 
ese squadron  outside  Port  Arthur :  never 
the  least  hesitation,  never  a  mistake. 
Compared  with  this,  what  must  have 
been  Admiral  Makaroff's  feelings  when 
he  wanted  us  to  take  up  our  first 
formation  ?  The  signal  was  hardly  down 
before  things  were  at  sixes  and  sevens, 
and  two  battleships,  who  had  not 
understood  what  was  required  of  them, 
promptly  rammed  one  another.  It  was 
only  thanks  to  pure  luck  that  they 
managed  to  do  this  without  seriously 
damaging  each  other.  And  yet  one 
could  not  in  reason  expect  these  captains 
to  know  that  which  no  one  had  ever 
taught  them.  When  it  is  a  case  of 
handling  a  battleship  in  a  squadron, 


52         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

while  performing  evolutions,  mere  theo- 
retical knowledge  is  of  no  use,  even  in 
the  most  simple  cases.  What  is  re- 
quired is  constant  practice  at  sea,  and 
that  was  precisely  what  we  all  lacked. 
The  admiral  had  first  thought  of  pro- 
viding us  with  this,  but  he  seemed  to 
have  thought  better  of  it,  for  fear  that 
his  precious  battleships  might  sink  one 
another.  Perhaps  he  might  have  got 
over  his  first  disappointment,  and  have 
gone  on  instructing  his  captains,  if  an 
end  so  near,  so  tragic,  had  left  him  time. 
It  was  the  very  morning  after  his 
arrival  that  the  Japanese  tried  for  the 
first  time  to  bombard  the  town  and 
inner  anchorage  by  indirect  fire.  When 
one  has  to  act  as  target,  a  good  battle 
seems  a  hundred  times  better.  For  my 
part,  I  know  nothing  which  is  such 
a  trial  to  the  nerves  than  to  remain 
at  anchor  waiting  for  a  12-inch  shell 
to  fall  on  top  of  one,  especially  when 


INDIRECT  FIRE  53 

said  projectile  weighs  about  800  Ib. 
On  board  the  battleships  they  were 
much  more  calm  than  we  on  board 
the  light  cruiser ;  all  they  had  to  do 
was  to  go  down  on  the  main  deck, 
behind  armour.  The  thickness  of  the 
side  of  a  light  cruiser  or  destroyer  is 
hardly  that  of  one's  little  ringer.  A 
bombardment  under  such  circumstances 
positively  lacked  all  charm  for  us. 

The  attacking  vessels  kept  so  far 
away  that  our  batteries  could  not  think 
of  replying  ;  our  battleships  alone  could 
do  this  by  high-angle  fire.  However 
problematical  the  result  may  be,  it  is 
a  great  satisfaction  to  be  able  to  hit 
back,  instead  of  twiddling  one's  thumbs, 
waiting  to  be  hit.  The  surrounding 
waters  on  the  chart  were  at  first  divided 
off  into  squares  and  each  turret  told 
off  to  one  square.  On  the  tops  of  the 
hills  signalmen  and  telephone  operators 
were  stationed  to  watch  and  report  the 


54         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

fall  of  our  12-inch  and  9'2-inch  shell, 
and  we  were  then  able  to  correct  the 
ranges  on  our  sights.  The  Japanese 
were  thus  compelled  to  shift  their  posi- 
tions frequently,  and  this  threw  out 
their  fire.  We  only  scored  one  lucky 
hit :  a  big  shell  plumped  on  the  Kasuga, 
but  it  sufficed  to  put  an  end  to  the 
bombardment. 

The  whole  of  the  month  of  March  was 
given  up  to  progressive  training  of  the 
squadron.  During  this  time  no  opera- 
tions on  a  large  scale  were  undertaken, 
but  only  reconnaissances  on  an  increas- 
ing radius,  during  which  we  brought 
up  every  steamer  we  sighted,  just  to 
make  it  clear  to  the  Japanese  that  we 
in  no  way  conceded  the  command  of 
the  sea  to  them.  During  one  of  these 
expeditions  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Miao-Tao  Islands,  we  came  upon  a 
small  Japanese  steamer,  which  tried  to 
disappear  in  that  archipelago,  and  which 


A  PRIZE  55 

we  at  once  chased.  When  she  saw  that 
escape  was  hopeless,  she  transhipped 
part  of  the  crew  to  a  Chinese  junk, 
which  at  once  made  sail,  while  the 
steamer  steered  at  top  speed  for  the 
coast,  evidently  intending  to  run 
aground.  Our  attendant  destroyer 
brought  up  the  junk,  whilst  a  shot 
across  her  bows  made  the  steamer  stop 
engines.  I  boarded  her  in  one  of  our 
boats  and  found  on  the  upper  deck  an 
old  rusty  whitehead  torpedo,  and  hidden 
in  the  hold  three  Japanese,  whom  I 
sent  on  board  the  Novik,  in  accordance 
with  my  instructions,  together  with 
the  four  Chinamen  forming  the  crew. 
A  fifth,  of  distinguished  appearance, 
whom  I  first  took  to  be  the  captain, 
would  have  liked  to  kill  me  by  his 
withering  glances  from  the  height  of 
the  bridge.  I  politely  invited  him  to 
step  into  the  boat,  where  he  sat  down 
in  the  stern  sheets  with  much  dignity, 


56         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

without  saying  a  word.  But  the  cox- 
swain, who  took  everyone  for  a  spy, 
having  felt  about  on  top  of  his  head, 
accidentally  knocked  off  his  cap,  and 
with  it  a  wig  and  pigtail,  presenting 
thus  to  our  astonished  gaze  a  Japanese, 
got  up  as  a  Chinese  to  perfection. 

We  tried  to  tow  the  steamer,  but  the 
Novik  was  so  fast  that  the  old  tinpot 
was  unable  to  stand  the  strain  :  her 
mast  went  by  the  board,  tearing  open 
her  bows,  so  that  we  were  obliged  to 
cast  off  tow,  and  to  sink  our  prize  by 
gunfire.  The  Japanese  were  all  brought 
back  to  Port  Arthur  as  prisoners. 

A  few  days  later  we  met  a  Norwegian 
steamer,  which  the  admiral  ordered  us 
to  examine.  As  the  weather  was  not 
of  the  best,  our  captain  thought  it 
would  be  much  simpler  to  send  her 
into  Port  Arthur,  where  the  search 
could  be  carried  out  in  comfort.  I  had 
just  got  on  board  the  vessel  when  the 


AWKWARD  NAVIGATION      57 

semaphore  informed  me  of  this  change 
of  plans.  My  boat  returned  to  the 
Novik  and  left  me  to  my  unenviable 
fate  :  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  captain 
possessed  no  chart  of  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  and  I  had  only  a  very 
superficial  knowledge  of  the  local  pilot- 
age. I  should  add  that  I  had  never  been 
precisely  in  these  waters  :  on  the  other 
hand,  I  knew  only  too  well  that  we  had 
planted  them  thick  with  floating  mines ; 
to  crown  all,  I  could  see  nothing  but 
shoals  all  around  us.  As  it  was  highly 
desirable  to  hide  my  anxiety  from  the 
skipper,  I  made  him  take  station  astern 
of  the  Novik,  whose  every  movement  I 
intended  to  follow  closely,  without  realis- 
ing that  she  was  being  set  steadily  aside 
by  a  current,  which  increased  in  strength 
as  we  neared  the  shore.  The  result  was 
that  at  a  given  moment  we  found  our- 
selves so  near  the  rocks  that  the  captain 
roused  himself  sufficiently  from  his 
5 


58 

apathy  to  ask  me  whether  we  were 
really  all  right.  I  replied  that  we  were 
obliged  to  shave  the  rocks,  to  avoid 
the  mines  we  had  dropped  all  over  the 
place.  To  add  to  my  misfortunes,  the 
captain's  wife,  who  had  become  very 
nervous,  was  standing  near  us.  At 
the  word  "  mines  "  she  burst  into  tears, 
clutched  at  my  clothes  and  implored 
me  to  release  them.  The  scene  became 
so  ridiculous  that  I  was  in  doubt 
whether  to  laugh  or  be  angry,  all  the 
more  as  at  bottom  I  really  pitied  these 
poor  people,  pretty  well  sure  that  their 
ship  did  not  contain  anything  in  the 
shape  of  contraband.  I  don't  under- 
stand how  we  managed  to  reach  Port 
Arthur,  where  no  sooner  was  the  anchor 
dropped  than  I  hastily  fled  from  the 
sobs  of  this  over-sensitive  woman,  who 
however  was  released  next  morning, 
together  with  the  ship. 

These  frequent  reconnaissances  of  the 


RECONNAISSANCES  59 

admiral  were  a  considerable  incon- 
venience for  the  Japanese,  who,  being 
thus  tied  to  the  place,  were  unable  to 
return  to  Japan  to  replenish  supplies. 
They  then  decided  to  establish  an  ad- 
vanced base  for  coal  and  ammunition 
at  the  Elliott  Islands.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  the  admiral's  object  in 
making  a  series  of,  so  to  speak,  platonic 
reconnaissances  was  to  make  them  relax 
their  vigilance,  and  then  one  fine  morning 
to  fall  upon  this  base  suddenly,  or  even 
to  reach  Vladivostok.  Whatever  really 
were  his  plans,  fate  did  not  permit  of 
their  being  executed,  for  on  13th  April 
was  enacted  that  horrible  drama  which 
cast  a  blight  over  all  the  remainder  of 
the  campaign  :  I  refer  to  the  loss  of  the 
Petropavlovsk. 

The  admiral  had  said  one  day  that  he 
would  "  do  the  job,"  provided  he  did 
not  allow  his  momentary  enthusiasm  to 
get  the  better  of  his  cool  judgment,  and 


60 

it  was  precisely  this  kind  of  thing  which 
was  the  cause  of  his  undoing. 

On  13th  April,  at  dawn,  the  cruisers 
went  out,  closely  followed  by  the  battle- 
ships :  the  object  was  to  set  free  the 
destroyers,  who  on  return  from  a  night 
expedition  had  run  into  the  hostile 
cruisers.  It  was,  by  the  way,  not  the 
first  time  that  these  nocturnal  cruises 
had  degenerated  into  the  most  unex- 
pected adventures.  One  of  our  destroyers 
had  calmly  spent  the  whole  night  in 
the  middle  of  a  hostile  flotilla,  which  in 
the  dark  he  had  mistaken  for  his  own. 
When  it  became  light  the  error  was 
discovered  mutually  :  they  all  fell  on 
him,  and  he  only  escaped  by  the  skin  of 
his  teeth. 

As  the  hostile  squadron  did  not  appear 
to  be  fully  concentrated,  the  admiral 
at  first  thought  of  attacking  it;  but 
their  battleships  had  joined  up  with 
the  cruisers  before  we  could  get  within 


MINELAYING  61 

range,  and  we  had  just  decided  to  fall 
back  under  the  protection  of  our  coast 
batteries,  when  the  Japanese  succeeded 
by  a  ruse  in  stopping  our  retreat  and  in 
inducing  us  to  follow  them  on  to  a  mine- 
field they  had  just  laid  out. 

How  was  it  that  Admiral  Makaroff, 
who  during  the  war  with  the  Turks 
[1878  to  1879]  had  made  his  reputation 
as  the  most  accomplished  minelayer, 
never  thought  that  the  Japanese  might 
have  taken  a  leaf  out  of  his  book  ? 
Previous  to  the  Petropavlovsk  disaster 
no  one  any  more  than  himself  had 
bothered  their  heads  about  such  an 
eventuality,  no  precautions  whatever 
were  taken,  and  it  was  quite  natural 
that  the  movements  of  the  Japanese 
minelayers  had  escaped  our  attention. 
The  slightest  fog  seriously  interferes 
with  the  searchlights,  forming  a  kind 
of  screen  against  which  the  beams  seem 
to  flatten  themselves  out  as  if  against 
5* 


62         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

a  wall.  Later  on,  when  I  happened  to 
be  on  duty  in  one  of  the  coast  batteries, 
I  have  frequently  heard  the  enemy's 
torpedo-craft  moving  about  in  the  roads 
during  calm  and  hazy  nights,  but  I 
could  do  nothing  ;  for  before  being  able 
to  sink  one  I  should  have  to  get  her  into 
the  beam  of  a  searchlight,  and  even  then 
we  could  not  be  sure  that  they  had  not 
already  accomplished  their  task  as  mine- 
layers. All  we  could  do  was  to  sweep 
for  their  mines  next  morning  and  to  lay 
out  preventive  nets.1  I  can  certify  to 
the  fact  that  these  two  expedients 
were  largely  employed.  The  mines  were 
swept  for  by  specially  fitted  steam 
hoppers,  and  our  minelayers  carefully 
laid  out  the  nets.  But,  alas !  all  these 
precautions  were  only  taken  after  the 
admiral's  death,  and  once  more  the 

1  [Steel  wire  grummet  nets,  such  as  are  carried  by 
battleships  against  torpedo  attacks,  were  hung  from 
spars  forming  booms,  the  ends  of  which  were  moored.] 


FOUR  HUNDRED  MINES       63 

truth  of  our  old  proverb  had  been 
proved  :  "  So  long  as  he  has  not  heard 
the  thunder,  the  peasant  does  not  think 
of  making  the  sign  of  the  cross." 

Our  inventive  genius  was  later  on  so 
developed  that  we  laid  regular  traps  for 
these  minelaying  destroyers,  and  then, 
at  the  end  of  the  siege,  we  succeeded  in 
capturing  a  Japanese  steamboat  whose 
propeller  had  got  foul  of  fishing  nets 
suspended  from  empty  casks. 

The  Japanese  had  laid  out  such 
quantities  of  mines  that  we  fished  up  no 
less  than  400  in  the  two  narrow  channels, 
swept  only  to  the  width  necessary  for  a 
single  ship  to  pass.  From  this  figure 
one  can  form  an  idea  of  the  number 
which  must  have  been  left  in  the  parts 
of  the  roads  we  did  not  explore. 

Let  us,  however,  return  to  Admiral 
Makaroff,  whom  we  left  performing 
evolutions  in  the  roads  and  about  to 
follow  up  the  Japanese.  Suddenly,  at 


64        ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

about  9.30  a.m.,  immediately  after  a  dull 
explosion,  the  Petropavlovsk  began  to 
heel  over ;  then  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession a  series  of  perfectly  deafening 
explosions,  and  the  big  ship,  literally 
broken  up  into  several  parts,  began  to 
go  down  fast,  head  foremost.  We  saw 
by  degrees  the  propellers,  still  revolving, 
appear  out  of  the  water,  then  her  bottom, 
painted  bright  green,  whilst  positive 
sheets  of  flame  ran  along  the  upper  deck, 
like  lava  pouring  over  the  slopes  of  a 
volcano  in  eruption.  The  Petropavlovsk, 
whom  the  sea  was  swallowing  up  with 
increasing  rapidity,  finally  disappeared 
in  a  veritable  geyser  of  steam  and 
columns  of  water.  Were  I  to  live  a 
hundred  years  this  drama,  which  lasted 
barely  a  minute  and  a  half,  could  never 
be  banished  from  my  memory,  and  this 
hideous  spectacle  seems  to  be  engraved 
upon  my  eyeballs  as  if  I  saw  it  to-day. 
It  was  awful,  all  the  more  awful  since  we 


GONE  DOWN!  65 

could  do  nothing  in  the  way  of  rendering 
assistance  to  the  victims  or  in  any  way 
arrest  the  appalling  catastrophe.  Under 
this  blow  we  all  remained  stunned  and 
riveted  to  the  spot.  I  remember  that 
after  the  first  explosion,  although  I 
had  given  orders  for  the  quarter-boats 
to  be  lowered,  for  several  minutes 
neither  I  nor  any  of  my  men  made  the 
slightest  movement  :  it  was  as  if  our 
arms  had  been  cut  off. 

Soon  afterwards  boats  began  to  arrive 
on  the  scene,  steamboats  and  destroyers, 
to  pick  up  the  few  survivors.  As  we 
could  not  believe  that  the  admiral  had 
gone  down,  every  ship  in  the  squadron 
was  asked  by  signal  for  news  of  him,  and 
from  everywhere  came  the  same  heart- 
rending reply.  However,  it  took  hours 
for  last  hopes  to  die  away  :  when  all 
the  boats  had  returned  to  their  ships, 
even  without  the  poor  consolation  of 
having  recovered  his  body. 


66         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

An  hour  after  the  Petropavlovsk  had 
gone  down,  the  Pobieda  in  her  turn  struck 
a  mine  :  she  got  off  cheap,  as  notwith- 
standing a  great  inrush  of  water,  she 
was  able  under  her  own  steam  to  regain 
the  harbour,  there  to  be  repaired. 

The  consequences  of  the  Petropavlovsk 
striking  that  mine  were  probably  so 
terrible  because  the  point  of  impact  was 
abreast  one  of  the  main  magazines, 
which  in  blowing  up  caused  the  boilers 
to  burst,  their  antiquated  type  making 
them  very  liable  to  this. 

I  shudder  when  I  think  how  many 
lives  were  lost,  how  many  of  those  men 
disappeared  who  formed  the  admiral's 
staff  and  whose  brilliant  attainments 
were  so  valuable  to  the  squadron,  in 
that  explosion  which  only  lasted  a  few 
seconds.  It  is  awful  to  think  that 
those  who  were  in  the  depths  of  the 
vessel  went  down  in  her  alive  and  must 
have  remained  so  for  a  long  time, 


BURIED  ALIVE  67 

knowing  that  they  were  (if  one  may  use 
the  expression)  buried  alive.  Instinct- 
ively, therefore,  I  rebel  against  war,  that 
method,  which  should  have  outlived 
itself,  of  settling  difficulties  mostly 
created  by  diplomats. 

A  similar  drama  was  enacted  on  board 
the  Rossia :  a  Japanese  projectile 
having  caused  an  outbreak  of  fire, 
several  men  found  themselves  hemmed  in 
by  the  flames  in  a  compartment.  When 
they  realised  their  desperate  position 
and  that  all  would  soon  be  over  for 
them,  they  struck  up  together  the  hymn 
De  Profundis,  while  waiting  for  death  to 
reduce  them  to  silence. 

How  did  the  admiral  really  come  by 
his  death  ?  No  one  could  say.  It  was 
stated  that  he  had  been  crushed  on  the 
bridge  by  the  falling  foremast.  After 
all,  it  does  not  matter  much  ;  his  death 
was,  not  only  for  Port  Arthur  but  for 
the  whole  of  Russia,  the  irreparable 


68          ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

misfortune  which  doomed  the  squadron 
to  inevitable  destruction. 

When  the  explosions  were  taking  place 
in  the  Petropavlovsk  a  rumour  arose  on 
board  the  other  ships  that  we  were  being 
attacked  by  submarines,  which  caused 
an  indescribable  panic.  Both  battle- 
ships and  cruisers  opened  fire  on  every- 
thing they  saw  floating  about :  pieces 
of  wood,  empty  tins  of  preserves,  and 
any  other  object  which  they  took  for 
periscopes.  This  insane  cannonade  went 
off  without  anyone  directing  it.  With- 
out any  regard  for  their  neighbours, 
the  gunlayers  fired  at  less  than  two 
cables  [400  yards] ;  shells  were  indeed 
whistling  all  round  us. 

Luckily  the  captain  of  the  Novik  did 
not  lose  his  head ;  as  soon  as  he  had, 
by  tremendous  energy,  got  the  men  to 
cease  firing,  he  went  full  speed  astern 
with  both  engines,  so  as  to  get  out  of 
the  range  of  fire  of  his  neighbours.  At 


SUBMARINES  ?  69 

that  moment  we  received  a  semaphore 
to  say  that  a  submarine  was  heading  for 
us.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  wash  of 
our  screws  was  taken  for  one,  as  I  could 
not  make  out  anything  of  the  kind, 
however  attentively  I  watched.  The 
men  were  literally  off  their  heads  :  one 
of  the  gunlayers  pointed  out  a  lump 
of  oakum  floating  in  the  water  and 
swore  it  was  a  periscope. 

I  believe  it  was  only  the  Poltava  and 
ourselves  who  thought  of  clearing  out  of 
this  rabble.  We  left  the  other  ships 
making  for  the  port,  crowding  one  upon 
the  other  like  a  lot  of  sheep.  Our  new 
squadron  commander  managed  at  last 
to  get  a  signal  through  for  forming  up. 
and  we  were  naturally  the  last. 

For  a  long  time  there  was  doubt  as 
to  the  presence  of  submarines  on  that 
day.  As,  moreover,  for  most  of  us 
this  new  type  of  vessel  was  quite  un- 
known, we  had  no  idea  what  its  capa- 


70         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

bilities  were.  The  Japanese  certainly 
possessed  submarines,  for  we  had  bought 
some  ourselves  in  the  United  States  at 
the  same  time  as  they.  But  since 
nobody  ever  saw  one  throughout  the 
war,  everyone  was  at  liberty  to  give 
vent  to  his  imagination  concerning  them. 
Some  firmly  believed  that  the  submarines 
would  penetrate  into  the  dockyard,  fire 
their  torpedos,  and  quietly  disappear. 
Anyhow,  an  obstruction  was  formed  of 
nets,  on  a  system  invented  by  Lieutenant 
Ulianoff,  which  were  meant  to  catch  sub- 
marines exactly  as  a  poacher  catches 
quails. 

More  than  once  the  signalmen  mistook 
simple  logs  of  wood  for  periscopes,  or  a 
seal  disporting  itself  for  a  submarine 
coming  to  the  surface,  and  their  sema- 
phore reports  used  to  alarm  the  whole  of 
Port  Arthur.  On  one  occasion  I  was 
sent  off  in  the  Novik's  steam  cutter  after 
a  submarine  reported  by  the  White 


ADMIRAL  VITYEFT  71 

Wolf  signal  station.  Before  starting  I 
received  the  following  instructions :  to 
seize  the  submarine  by  its  periscope, 
then  to  smash  it  by  blows  with  a  mallet, 
so  as  to  blind  its  crew ;  better  still,  to 
wrap  a  flag  or  piece  of  canvas  round  it  ; 
or  lastly  (which  would  have  been  the 
best  of  all),  to  tow  the  said  submarine 
by  its  periscope  into  the  inner  harbour. 

After  the  war  I  commanded  for  one 
year  some  of  our  submarines  at  Vladi- 
vostok, which  enabled  me  to  see  how 
ingenuous,  not  to  say  grotesque,  our 
ideas  were  at  the  time.  Although  as  an 
engine  of  war  it  has  not  yet  reached 
perfection,  such  as  it  is  to-day  it  con- 
stitutes a  very  formidable  weapon. 

Admiral  Vityeft,  who  succeeded  Ad- 
miral Makaroff  in  the  command  of  the 
squadron,  appears  to  have  been  fully 
conscious  of  the  fact  that  he  was  not 
quite  equal  to  his  new  task.  He  there- 
fore decided  that  the  squadron  was  not 


72         ADMIRAL  MAKAROFF 

to  undertake  any  operations  outside, 
preferring  to  concentrate  all  the  means  at 
his  disposal  on  the  defence  of  the  fortress : 
which  led  the  wits  of  the  place  to  de- 
clare that  "  for  the  remainder  of  the 
war  the  squadron  would  observe  the 
strictest  neutrality." 


CHAPTER    V 

THE  BATTLESHIPS  "HATSUSE"  AND 
"YASHIMA"  BLOW  UP  —  Loss  OF 
"  YENISSEI  "  AND  "  BOYARIN  " 

THE  death  of  Admiral  Makaroff  left 
the  squadron  without  a  head,  and  it 
was  doomed  to  inaction;  only  the  de- 
stroyers went  out  on  their  daily  round 
of  guard  duty.  This  was  an  ungrateful 
task  for  them,  wearisome  and  dangerous 
into  the  bargain :  several  of  them  came 
to  an  untimely  end,  some  by  striking 
sunken  rocks,  others  went  down  under 
the  Japanese  fire,  without  any  of  them 
having  the  opportunity  of  discharging 
one  of  those  weapons  which  gave  them 
their  name,1  with  the  sole  exception  of 

1  [In  Russia  destroyers  are  called  "  torpedo-boats."] 
6 


74      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

the  one  commanded  by  Lieutenant 
Krinitsky,  who  attacked  the  fireships 
and  attempted  (though  unsuccessfully) 
to  torpedo  their  escorting  vessels. 

By  day  all  of  these  small  vessels 
which  were  not  on  guard  duty  outside, 
assisted  at  the  recovery  of  mines, 
together  with  rowboats,  tugs,  and 
"  sweepers  "  from  the  dockyard.  This 
sweeping  service  constituted  a  duty 
which  was  no  less  full  of  risk  than  the 
night  duties  I  have  just  mentioned. 
All  these  humble  workers  ensured  the 
big  ships  being  able  to  go  out,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  these  wretched 
destroyers  were  often  made  to  get 
under  weigh  only  so  that  it  might  be 
said  that  Port  Arthur  was  "  still  up 
and  doing." 

Towards  the  end  of  April  there  was  a 
report  that  the  enemy  had  just  landed 
on  the  Liao-Tung  Peninsula.  No  one 
worried  very  much  about  it,  bearing 


SHUT  IN  75 

in  mind  what  Kuropatkin  had  stated 
publicly  :  "  It  does  not  matter  where 
the  Japanese  land,  as  I  shall  always 
drive  them  into  the  sea."  And  in 
those  days  we  still  had  faith  in  Kuro- 
patkin. As  to  our  admiral,  he  was 
said  to  have  declared  bluntly  that  the 
means  at  his  disposal  did  not  permit 
him  to  oppose  any  Japanese  landing. 
I  don't  know  whether  this  is  true,  but 
in  any  case  it  is  shameful  that  nothing 
was  tried,  that  he  did  not  even  make  a 
pretence  at  trying  something.  Several 
days  later  we  heard  from  a  reliable 
source  that  the  enemy  had  effected  a 
landing  at  Pitzevo,  and  that  his  ad- 
vanced guard  had  been  bold  enough  to 
push  on  to  the  railway,  from  where 
they  had  fired  at  a  passing  train.  By 
the  middle  of  next  month  Port  Arthur 
found  its  communications  cut  off :  we 
were  without  post  and  telegraph,  in  fact 
we  were  completely  and  definitely  shut  in. 


76      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

The  halt  of  the  Japanese  after  their 
first  battle  was  an  enormous  mistake  : 
had  they  pushed  on,  Port  Arthur  would 
have  fallen  at  once.  The  three  months 
they  thus  lost  was  certainly  not  time 
lost  for  us,  for  it  enabled  us  to  make 
such  dispositions  that  it  took  them 
seven  months  to  reduce  the  defenders 
to  despair — or  rather,  General  Stoessel, 
without  whose  action  the  capitulation 
(which  I  admit  was  inevitable)  would 
certainly  not  have  taken  place  until 
very  much  later. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  siege 
our  squadron  was  able,  by  indirect 
means,  to  pay  out  the  Japanese  to  a 
certain  extent  for  Makaroff  s  death  and 
the  loss  of  the  flagship.  Primarily  to 
prevent  the  enemy  from  bombarding 
us  from  seaward,  we  had  strewn  with 
mines  all  the  waters  not  actually  covered 
by  our  coast  batteries  ;  we  had  laid 
out  some  off  Cape  Liao-ti-Shan  and 


THE  AMUR  77 

outside  Talienwan.  Admiral  Vityeft 
had  the  happy  thought  to  sow  also  a 
few  more  between  these  two  points, 
about  seven  miles  to  the  south-east  of 
the  entrance.  Captain  Ivanoff,  com- 
manding the  minelayer  Amur,  was  the 
author  of  a  secret  plan,  which  he  kept 
locked  up,  and  he  now  took  advantage 
of  one  of  his  sorties  to  carry  it  out. 
The  Japanese  had  established  a  regular 
blockade,  and  every  day  we  saw  them 
moving  up  and  down  a  line  about  ten 
miles  off  the  coast-line,  a  distance  at 
which  they  judged  themselves  to  be  out 
of  range  of  our  heaviest  guns,  those 
mounted  on  Electric  Rock,  our  only 
coast  battery  of  real  worth.  They 
were  quite  aware  that  our  shell  could 
not  reach  them  at  that  distance,  and 
they  defied  our  poor  gunners,  who  spent 
night  and  day  at  the  breeches  of  their 
guns,  hoping  for  some  false  move  by 

the    enemy,   which   would    have  given 
6* 


them  a  chance  of  getting  a  shot  in. 
Unfortunately,  the  Japanese  were  wide 
awake  and  never  risked  getting  even 
half  a  mile  inside  their  self-imposed 
limit.  The  captain  of  the  Amur,  having 
noticed  this  peculiarity,  cleverly  took 
advantage  of  a  fogbank  to  reach  the 
spot  he  had  chosen,  and  to  drop  some 
mines  there.  Admiral  Vityeft,  having 
been  informed  of  what  he  called  a 
mad  prank,  naturally  began  to  get 
angry  :  he  roundly  abused  Captain 
Ivanoff,  and  even  went  as  far  as  to 
threaten  him  with  removal  from  his 
command. 

As  was  natural,  this  story  went 
quickly  round  the  town.  Consequently 
next  morning  everyone  who  was  not 
actually  on  duty  met  as  if  by  appoint- 
ment on  Electric  Rock.  Towards  ten 
o'clock  the  Japanese  battleships  dis- 
appeared behind  Liao-ti-Shan  in  single 
line  ahead,  after  having  steamed  safely 


YASHIMA  SUNK  79 

right  through  our  mine-field.  We  had 
hardly  recovered  from  our  disappoint- 
ment when  away  to  the  left  the  cruisers 
hove  in  sight,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  battleships,  having  turned  round, 
reappeared  from  behind  Liao-ti-Shan 
and  steered  straight  for  the  danger 
zone.  After  several  minutes  of  feverish 
expectation, we  saw  them  all  stop  engines 
together,  and  one  of  them,  of  the  Yashima 
type,  commence  heeling  over  heavily  to 
port.  Although  no  one  actually  saw 
the  explosion,  this  heel,  which  steadily 
got  worse,  showed  us  clearly  that  the 
vessel  must  have  exploded  a  mine  under 
her  bottom.  Moreover,  we  could  make 
out  with  our  glasses  that  all  the  boats 
of  the  squadron  were  pulling  towards 
that  ship,  whilst  the  remaining  battle- 
ships, still  stopped,  were  waiting  around. 
The  excitement  in  Port  Arthur  was  now 
at  its  height.  The  destroyers  were 
standing  by  to  go  out,  and  the  Novik 


80      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

having  received  orders  to  bring  her 
fires  forward,  I  was  obliged  to  leave 
Golden  Hill,  where  all  were  congratu- 
lating one  another  on  our  success,  whilst 
showering  curses  on  the  Japanese. 
However,  it  was  by  no  means  over.  At 
a  moment  when  least  expected,  an 
enormous  column  of  white  smoke  shot 
up  from  a  battleship  of  the  Hatsuse  type, 
in  which  she  completely  disappeared, 
No  sooner  had  this  smoke  blown  away 
than  we  saw  the  battleship  go  down, 
bows  first.  And  then  there  burst  forth 
a  kind  of  ferocious  joy,  a  joy  of  savages, 
without  restraint,  with  caps  thrown 
into  the  air  and  with  cheers,  and  the 
people  all  but  rushed  into  one  another's 
arms.  The  loss  of  the  Petropavlovsk 
was  indeed  avenged,  as  the  Hatsuse, 
which  bad  displaced  15,000  tons,  be- 
longed to  a  more  powerful,  and  above 
all  more  modern  type  than  our  ship. 
The  general  elation  even  spread  to  the 


HATSUSE'S  FATE  81 

foreign  Naval  Attaches  :  the  German 
clapped  his  hands;  the  Frenchman,  in 
ecstasy,  waved  his  cap,  shouting,  "  Fini 
les  japonais !  Rien  ne  va  plus !  "  Only 
the  American,  keeping  his  thoughts  to 
himself,  left  Golden  Hill  without  uttering 
a  word. 

It  is  probable  that  they  were  not  able 
to  save  many  men  from  the  Hatsuse, 
as  no  sooner  were  all  boats  hoisted  up 
than  the  squadron  steamed  away  at  full 
speed,  leaving  the  wretched  Yashima, 
still  stopped  and  heeling  over,  to  her 
fate.  Later  on  she  slowly  righted,  and 
also  got  away. 

The  Novik  and  the  destroyers,  as  soon 
as  they  had  got  outside,  had  been  divided 
into  three  groups.  I  must  point  out 
once  more  that  these  daylight  attacks 
had  not  the  least  chance  of  success. 
In  fact  the  cruisers,  who  surrounded  the 
ill-fated  battleship,  opened  so  hot  a  fire 
on  our  vessels  that  they  were  unable  to 


82      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

get  anywhere  near.  We  heard  later 
on  that  this  attempt  would  have  served 
no  purpose,  as  the  Yashima  was  so 
damaged  that  she  sank  before  she  could 
get  to  Japan. 

The  English  Press  has  written  that 
the  Japanese  newspapers  had  deeply 
deplored  the  loss  of  the  Petropavlovsk 
and  Admiral  Makaroff  s  death.  Already 
somewhat  sceptical  on  that  point,  I 
was  fully  confirmed  in  my  view  after 
the  loss  of  their  battleships.  If  we 
Russians,  with  an  essentially  easy-going 
and  peace-loving  nature,  gave  way  to 
such  demonstrations  of  savage  joy  at 
seeing  hundreds  of  our  enemies  go  down, 
I  feel  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the 
jubilations  of  the  Japanese,  who  are 
after  all  cruel  and  vindictive  Malays, 
must  have  passed  all  bounds. 

By  the  middle  of  May  the  enemy  had 
seized  the  position  of  Kintchao,  judged 
to  be  impregnable  by  our  Port  Arthur 


THE  GALLANT  BOBR          83 

tacticians,  who  had  counted  on  the 
support  of  our  squadron,  but  which 
failed  them,  as  it  was  convinced  of  its 
own  impotence.  The  gunboat  Bobr  was 
sent  to  the  east  of  Dalny,  where  her 
co-operation  was  most  valuable.  It  was 
she  who  forced  the  Japanese  to  keep 
away.  On  the  other  hand,  nothing  of 
the  kind  was  done  in  the  west,  which 
allowed  the  Japanese  army  to  take  our 
batteries  in  reverse  and  completely  to 
turn  our  position.  The  departure,  and 
above  all  the  return,  of  the  Bobr  will 
ever  remain  glorious  pages  in  the  annals 
of  the  siege.  Commander  Schelting, 
who  commanded  the  gunboat,  was 
niggardly  rewarded  with  the  cross  of 
St.  George.  He  had  received  orders  to 
shell  the  enemy  up  to  the  last  moment 
and,  if  Kintchao  were  unhappily  to  fall, 
he  was  to  sink  his  ship  and  bring  the 
crew  back  to  Port  Arthur  overland. 
Schelting,  who  had  brilliantly  carried 


84      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

out  the  first  part  of  the  programme, 
lacked  the  sad  courage  to  carry  out  the 
second  part.  When  the  moment  came 
for  sinking  the  Bobr,  he  thought  it  might 
be  better  to  try  and  bring  her  back  into 
harbour,  which  was  more  than  risky, 
seeing  that  with  the  fall  of  Kintchao  the 
Japanese  ships  had  recovered  liberty  of 
movement  and  commanded  the  sea. 
The  Bobr  effected  her  retreat  in  a  dark, 
blowy  night,  running  neck  and  neck 
with  the  enemy.  The  darkness  alone 
saved  her  :  her  guns,  more  than  ob- 
solete, though  very  formidable  with 
their  shrapnel  shell  against  land  troops, 
had  no  effect  whatever  on  the  ships 
opposed  to  her. 

I  have  often  heard  it  said  that,  since 
the  Bobr  had  done  so  well  against  Dalny, 
it  was  a  great  mistake  not  to  have  sent 
out  better  armed  vessels  than  she.  The 
answer  is  this  :  the  spot  from  which  it 
was  alone  possible  to  fire  was  so 


THE  YENISSEI  SUNK         85 

restricted  that  only  a  very  small,  short 
vessel  could  maintain  herself  there,  and 
even  so  she  had  to  keep  moving  her 
engines  the  whole  time. 

Not  knowing,  of  course,  where  the 
landing  would  take  place,  we  thought 
that  Dalny  seemed  to  offer  the  best 
chances ;  it  was  therefore  decided  to 
lay  mines  there.  Early  in  February, 
the  Yenissei  was  sent  there  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  was  lost  by  striking  one  of  her 
own  mines.  This  gave  rise  to  a  violent 
discussion,  for  nearly  everyone  thought 
that  this  accident  was  directly  due  to 
the  captain's  negligence.  There  were 
not  many  who  tried  to  discover  the 
cause  and  to  reconstitute  the  drama 
in  the  way  it  must  have  happened  :  it 
was  so  much  easier  to  put  down  every- 
thing to  the  captain's  carelessness  or 
incapacity. 

Now,  Commander  Stevanoff  was  an 
officer  of  considerable  capacity,  had 


86      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

graduated  at  the  War  College  and  him- 
self designed  a  minelayer.  Indeed,  the 
Yenissei  had  been  built  from  his  plans, 
which  I  hasten  to  add  the  Ministry  of 
Marine  had  not  hesitated  to  modify. 
In  the  end  Captain  Stevanoff  was  de- 
clared to  be  the  father  of  a  child  bearing 
only  a  distant  resemblance  to  the  one 
he  had  conceived.  Being,  however,  de- 
voted to  his  profession,  and  especially 
to  everything  connected  with  torpedoes 
and  mines,  he  had  determined  to  make 
the  best  of  what  they  had  been  pleased 
to  leave  of  his  design,  and  obeying  only 
the  instincts  of  his  enterprising  and 
courageous  nature,  he  had  repeatedly 
asked  permission  to  go  out  and  lay  mines 
off  the  enemy's  ports.  His  first  ex- 
pedition of  the  kind  was  to  mine  Talien- 
wan  Bay,  in  a  stiff  breeze,  hazy  weather, 
with  occasional  snow  squalls,  and  a 
temperature  well  below  freezing  point. 
He  had  already  dropped  400  of  his 


THE  "  OWN  PETARD  "         87 

spherical  mines,  when  it  was  reported 
to  him  that  one  of  them  had  come  up 
again.  The  state  of  the  sea  did  not 
permit  of  the  mine  being  moored  afresh, 
and  he  was  not  anxious  to  leave  behind 
what  was  not  so  much  a  proof  of  want  of 
skill  as  something  which  would  betray 
the  presence  of  mines.  He  therefore 
decided  to  explode  it,  but  before  he 
had  time  to  do  this,  an  explosion  sud- 
denly took  place  under  the  Yenissei, 
which  sent  her  to  the  bottom.  What  had 
happened  ?  It  is  supposed  that  the 
ship  must  have  struck  one  of  her  own 
submerged  mines,  which  the  heavy  sea 
had  broken  adrift  from  its  moorings, 
unless  indeed,  blinded  by  the  driving 
snow,  she  had  steamed  over  one  of  the 
lines  laid  by  herself.  All  boats  were  at 
once  lowered  to  save  the  crew.  Al- 
though seriously  wounded  in  the  head, 
and  his  body  riddled  by  splinters  of 
every  kind,  due  to  the  explosion,  the 


88      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

captain  had  kept  his  presence  of  mind, 
and  himself  superintended  the  filling 
of  the  boats.  When  it  was  pointed  out 
to  him  that  it  was  time  to  shove  off, 
he  resolutely  refused  to  leave  the  ship, 
and  as  a  true  hero  went  down  in  her, 
in  full  view  of  his  shipmates.  He  had 
doubtlessly  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
since  the  accident  was  due  to  some 
neglect  or  even  mere  error  in  judg- 
ment on  his  part,  it  was  only  just 
that  he  should  expiate  the  fault. 
Who  dare  now  to  throw  the  first 
stone  ? 

A  few  days  later  the  catastrophe  was 
repeated,  but  in  far  less  difficult  con- 
ditions, and  the  results  were  also  quite 
different.  In  the  hope  of  hiding  from 
the  enemy  an  event  from  which  he 
might  have  derived  some  advantage, 
it  was  altogether  hidden  from  the  large 
majority  of  Russians.  It  is  as  well 
that  they  should  know  the  truth  now. 


THE  BOYARIN  DESTROYED     89 

The  Boyarin,1  having  been  sent  to 
Talienwan,  struck  one  of  the  mines 
just  laid  out  by  the  Yenissei.  Let  me 
say  at  once  that  the  captain  of  the 
former  could  not  be  held  responsible. 
The  plan  by  which  these  mines  had  been 
laid  out  had  been  lost  with  the  ship, 
and  the  Boyarin  was  therefore  quite  in 
the  dark  and  had  to  take  her  chance 
in  carrying  out  her  orders.  Yet  from 
the  moment  the  accident  occurred  her 
captain's  attitude  has  been  a  complete 
mystery  to  me.  The  ship's  company 
were  already  all  in  the  boats,  when  the 
chief  engineer  reported  to  the  captain 
that  the  water  was  falling  in  the  well. 
Without  listening  to  anything,  the  latter 
dashed  on  board  a  destroyer  which  had 
just  turned  up,  and  steamed  away  in 
her  at  full  speed,  deserting  his  vessel, 
which  was  still  afloat,  though  not  with- 
out having  previously  given  orders  to 

1  A  similar  vessel  to  the  Novik. 

7 


90      BATTLESHIPS  BLOW  UP 

another  destroyer  to  torpedo  her.  The 
poor  Boyarin,  after  having  been  missed 
by  two  torpedos,  floated  about  for 
three  days  and  then  drifted  on  to  the 
rocks,  where  the  sea  broke  her  up. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE  SHIPS  CANNONADE  THE  JAPANESE 
TROOPS — THE  SQUADRON  SAILS  ON 
JUNE  23 

UP  to  the  beginning  of  June  the  losses 
of  the  war  on  both  sides  were  entirely 
due  to  mines.  Both  sides  had  laid 
them  out  in  great  quantities  :  the 
Japanese  to  prevent  our  going  out,  and 
we  to  hamper  them  in  their  bombard- 
ments. Naturally  each  side  fished  up 
and  destroyed  the  other's  mines,  while 
trying  to  cause  him  at  the  same  time 
some  additional  damage,  and  this 
frequently  degenerated  into  skirmishes 
between  destroyers,  usually  harmless. 
Every  means  was  considered  good 

9' 


92  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

enough  for  the  end  in  view  :  rafts, 
destroyers,  lighters,  hoppers,  the  Amur 
and  even  small  merchant  steamers. 
The  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  never 
employed  anything  but  their  destroyers, 
which  time  and  again  were  lit  up  by  our 
coast  searchlights,  when  they  were  at 
once  fired  upon  by  the  batteries,  which 
claimed  to  have  sunk  several.  This, 
however,  could  never  be  proved,  as  with 
the  advent  of  dawn  every  trace  of  the 
enemy  disappeared.  Frequently,  especi- 
ally towards  the  end,  the  Japanese 
only  made  believe,  probably  as  they 
were  short  of  material.  We  fished 
up  several  mines  which  were  found 
to  contain  only  one  -  quarter  the 
proper  charge,  and  the  explosion  of 
which  would  not  have  done  much 
harm. 

Occasionally  they  changed  their  tactics 
and  set  mines  adrift  which  used  to 
strike  the  rocks,  where  their  explosion 


DESTROYER  ATTACK         93 

only    served    to    frighten    the    natives, 
especially  the  fishermen. 

Whether  to  convoy  the  Amur  or  to 
drive  off  the  destroyers  which  used  to 
hover  about  in  groups  between  Port 
Arthur  and  Talienwan,  the  Novik  was 
always  under  weigh.  We  once  came 
across  seventeen  of  them,  who  tried  a 
combined  attack  on  us,  but  thanks  to 
our  speed  we  were  easily  able  to  keep 
them  at  a  distance  and  under  our 
fire.  They  then  broke  up  into  three 
groups,  so  as  to  deliver  their  attack 
from  three  different  directions,  but  they 
failed  in  this  too.  We  fired  on  each  of 
the  groups  in  succession,  which  made  it 
impossible  for  them  to  carry  out  a 
simultaneous  attack  on  the  Novik,  who 
came  out  with  flying  colours,  thanks  to 
speed  and  skill.  The  Japanese  gave 
up  the  chase,  probably  owing  to  damage 
inflicted  by  us,  as  our  fire  was  very 
effective.  The  oily  calm  enabled  us  to 


7* 


94  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

spot  the  fall  of  our  shot  accurately,  and 
nothing  was  easier  than  to  correct  the 
errors  in  distance  and  direction,  so 
that  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
a  number  of  our  shell  get  home.  This 
affair  showed  us  that  a  Novik,  well 
handled,  had  nothing  to  fear  from  de- 
stroyers, no  matter  how  numerous. 
The  Japanese  had  evidently  come  to 
the  same  conclusion,  for  ever  after 
their  destroyers  made  off  the  moment 
our  presence  had  been  reported  to  them. 
By  the  beginning  of  June  the  be- 
sieging army  had  pushed  their  advance 
so  vigorously  that  our  troops  fell  back 
to  the  Green  Hills,  quite  close  to  Port 
Arthur.  During  this  movement  the 
Japanese  left  wing  had  got  so  close  to 
the  sea  that  our  ships  were  able  to 
cannonade  them.  A  series  of  such 
operations  therefore  commenced  on 
14th  June,  which  nearly  always  ended 
in  bringing  about,  if  not  a  regular 


INDIRECT  FIRE  95 

engagement,  at  least  a  skirmish  between 
the  big  ships  on  both  sides. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  siege 
these  same  Green  Hills  had  played  a 
certain  part  in  our  indirect  fire,  which 
used  to  be  corrected  by  observers 
stationed  there,  our  shell  passing  over 
their  heads.  It  was  a  very  dull  game, 
for  most  of  the  time  we  never  knew 
what  the  results  were  of  our  bombarding 
a  target  we  never  even  saw.  Added  to 
this  were  head-  and  ear-aches,  for  our 
4*7-inch  guns  had  the  most  penetrating 
sound  I  ever  heard. 

It  frequently  happened  that  the 
Novik  and  the  gunboats  steamed  out  at 
dawn  in  the  direction  of  Talienwan. 
Ahead  of  us  were  the  craft  towing  sweeps 
to  catch  the  mines,  which  the  Japanese 
laid  out  most  conscientiously  every 
night  in  the  waters  they  supposed  we 
should  be  steaming  through.  The  whole 
of  us  had  constantly  to  stop  engines, 


96  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

to  enable  one  of  the  "  sweeps,"  parted 
by  the  explosion  of  a  mine,  to  be  hauled 
in,  refitted,  and  paid  out  again.  These 
constant  stoppages  were  intensely  irri- 
tating, and  in  the  end  the  Japanese 
squadron  appearing  over  the  horizon 
forced  us  by  their  long-range  fire  to 
retire  into  Port  Arthur. 

One  day  our  captain,  who  had  had  just 
about  enough  of  these  constant  delays 
during  a  run,  only  made  at  4  or  5  knots 
as  it  was,  threw  everything  to  the 
winds  and  decided  to  trust  to  his  usual 
luck,  and  the  onlookers  were  thus  able 
to  enjoy  a  spectacle  differing  much 
from  the  usual  one.  In  front  the  Novik 
drawing  over  18  feet,  steaming  at  full 
speed  through  the  Japanese  mines, 
followed  at  the  speed  of  the  tortoise 
by  the  gunboats  towing  the  sweeping 
lighters,  whose  draught  did  not  ex- 
ceed 12  feet.  If  these  mad  escapades 
amongst  the  mines  reacted  very  un- 


THE  NOVIK'S  LUCK          97 

pleasantly  (why  hide  the  fact  ?)  on 
our  nervous  system,  they  at  any  rate 
enabled  us  to  throw  ourselves  on  the 
rear  of  the  enemy,  who  then  left  their 
base  precipitately,  but  who  only  arrived 
just  in  time  to  see  us  regain  our  stables 
with  a  light  heart  after  having  accom- 
plished our  object  without  waiting  for 
the  12-inch  shell.  The  luck  of  the 
Novik  was  incredible.  Mines  were  swept 
up  at  the  very  places  we  had  just 
passed  over ;  one  was  actually  exploded 
by  the  wash  of  our  screws.  A  yard  or 
two  more  to  starboard  and  we  should 
have  been  blown  in  half. 

The  capture  of  the  Green  Hills  having 
brought  the  Japanese  in  direct  contact 
with  the  place,  these  expeditions  be- 
came a  delightful  distraction  :  firstly, 
because  we  had  not  far  to  go ;  secondly, 
because  we  at  last  saw  what  we  were 
firing  at.  One  day  as  we  were  steam- 
ing close  along  the  shore,  our  attention 


98  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

was  attracted  by  a  dark  spot  about 
half-way  up  the  slopes  of  Taku-Shan. 
Some  thought  that  it  was  a  clump  of 
pines,  but  the  majority  took  it  for  a 
detachment  of  Japanese  troops.  The 
captain  having  decided  to  fire  on  these 
suspicious  spots,  Sub-Lieutenant  Maxi- 
moff  laid  one  of  his  guns  on  the  target 
himself.  At  the  first  shot  the  spot 
moved.  It  looked  as  if  the  whole  was 
trying  to  move  round  to  the  other  face 
of  the  hill.  We  at  once  substituted 
shrapnel  for  the  common  shell  which 
had  been  used  to  get  the  range,  and 
their  bursting  cones  literally  covered 
the  Japanese,  who  fled  in  disorder, 
leaving  behind  heaps  of  corpses.  This 
was  the  first  time  that  I  witnessed 
real  excitement  on  board.  Usually 
everyone  remained  quietly  at  his 
fighting  station,  whilst  on  this  occasion 
every  one  appeared  to  be  struck  with 
a  fit  of  mad  rage.  The  whole  of  the 


NOVEL  TARGETS  99 

officers  were  at  the  guns  ;  the  stokers 
off  watch  carried  the  ammunition  up 
from  below  in  their  arms,  and  shouts 
of  joy  were  heard  in  the  midst  of  the 
joking.  Meanwhile  the  Japanese  ships, 
who  had  approached,  opened  fire  on  us. 
But  no  one  wanted  to  leave  off,  and  we 
had  several  times  to  make  the  signal 
to  return  into  port  to  the  little  Otvajny, 
who,  quite  unconscious  of  any  danger, 
had  stood  on  without  paying  any 
attention  to  what  was  going  on  to 
seaward. 

On  another  occasion,  when  I  was 
working  our  Barr  &  Stroud  range-finder 
(the  only  good  instrument  we  possessed 
of  the  kind  in  Port  Arthur),  which  is 
fitted  with  very  powerful  glasses,  I 
noticed  that  the  slopes  of  the  hills 
opposite  us  were  covered  with  small 
groups  of  Japanese,  who  had  been 
overlooked  by  our  ordinary  glasses, 
notwithstanding  their  nearness,  as  all 


100  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

these  men,  dressed  in  khaki,  were  sitting 
down  and  keeping  absolutely  still, 
trusting  that  they  had  not  been  dis- 
covered. A  few  well-directed  projec- 
tiles produced  absolute  panic  in  their 
ranks.  During  the  night  they  had 
attempted  to  turn  our  right  flank  ;  the 
Novik,  who  turned  up  in  the  nick  of 
time  to  spoil  their  little  game,  was  the 
cause  of  their  not  risking  themselves 
near  the  sea  for  a  long  time. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the 
plan  of  joining  up  Pigeon  Bay  with  the 
West  Basin  of  the  harbour  had  not  been 
carried  out,  for  by  its  means  we  could 
have  threatened  both  wings  of  the  be- 
siegers and  thus  helped  the  defence  very 
considerably. 

Several  times  in  June  the  Viceroy 
suggested  to  Admiral  Vityeft  to  take  out 
the  whole  squadron  and  attack  the 
enemy,  said  to  be  several  units  short. 
Our  only  means  of  communicating  with 


SQUADRON  WEIGHS          101 

the  Viceroy  and  St.  Petersburg  were 
by  junks  sent  to  Chifoo,  also  the  de- 
stroyer Lieut.  Burakoff,  which  several 
times  accomplished  the  passage  across 
to  In-Keu.  She  was  the  fastest  of  our 
destroyers,  and  each  of  these  trips  was 
a  deed  of  valour,  since  the  Japanese 
invariably  organised  a  regular  "  drive  " 
to  catch  her  on  her  return  journey, 
from  which  she  managed  as  regularly 
to  escape,  thanks  to  the  activity  and 
intelligence  of  her  captain. 

At  last  the  admiral  made  up  his  mind 
to  get  his  ships  under  weigh  on  23rd 
June.  The  day  before  the  channel  was 
swept  clean,  and  at  daybreak  the  battle- 
ships began  to  creep  out  laboriously  to 
the  roads.  Port  Arthur  is  a  port  so 
well  chosen  that  vessels  can  only  go  out 
one  at  a  time.  As  deep  draught  vessels 
can  only  get  through  the  channel  at  high 
water,  it  is  often  necessary  to  use  two 
tides,  as  on  the  slightest  hitch  occurring, 


102  SHIPS  F.  TROOPS 

everyone  behind  has  to  await  the  next 
high  water.  It  was  noon  before  the 
squadron  was  at  last  outside.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Japanese,  who  had  been 
kept  well  informed  of  our  protracted 
movements,  had  ample  time  to  make 
their  dispositions,  and  by  three  o'clock 
their  entire  fleet  were  assembled  about 
forty  miles  from  Port  Arthur.  After 
having  counted  their  ships  several  times, 
the  admiral  judged  it  to  be  imprudent 
to  attack  superior  numbers  and  decided 
to  return  to  Port  Arthur.  In  fact, 
there  were  over  twenty  of  them,  as 
against  exactly  eleven  on  our  side.  It 
is  impossible  to  say  what  the  issue  of 
an  action  under  these  conditions  would 
have  been,  but  I  think  we  might  have 
risked  it,  were  it  merely  to  prepare  for 
Admiral  Rojestvensky's  arrival.  I  feel 
sure  that  with  a  more  energetic,  and 
above  all  more  enterprising,  chief— 
with  Makaroff,  for  instance — we  should 


SEBASTOPOL  DAMAGED     103 

have  taken  our  chance,  which  would 
anyway  have  been  better  than  to  allow 
ourselves  to  be  sunk,  quite  uselessly,  in 
the  harbour. 

By  the  time  we  got  back  to  the  an- 
chorage it  was  quite  dark,  and  we  were 
attacked  by  destroyers  when  still  several 
miles  from  it.  The  Novik,  as  rear 
ship,  was  ordered  to  give  the  alarm  by 
firing  guns.  At  the  moment  of  anchor- 
ing the  Sebastopol  struck  a  mine,  which 
caused  an  inrush  of  water  ;  as  the  recol- 
lection of  the  Petropavlovsk  had  by  no 
means  been  effaced,  the  ship's  company 
lost  their  heads  and  made  a  rush  for 
hammocks  and  lifebelts,  one  man  actu- 
ally jumping  overboard.  It  was  only 
thanks  to  the  coolness  and  energy  of  Cap- 
tain von  Essen,  who  commanded  her  [he 
had  recently  been  transferred  from  the 
Novik].,  that  order  could  be  re-established 
and  the  ship  brought  into  a  safe  place. 

We  had  lowered  a  boat  to  save  the 


104  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

man,  and  soon  found  ourselves  in  a 
critical  position  :  obliged  to  hoist  the 
boat  whilst  repelling  an  attack  by  de- 
stroyers who  had  come  quite  close  when 
they  saw  that  we  were  separated  from 
the  rest.  When  we  rejoined  the  ships 
had  all  anchored,  and  as  they  had  for- 
gotten to  give  us  a  billet  by  signal  we 
dropped  an  anchor  between  two  battle- 
ships. In  spite  of  the  darkness  and 
the  general  excitement,  the  squadron 
managed  to  anchor  on  a  very  judicious 
plan  drawn  up  by  Lieutenant  Azarieff, 
fleet  navigating  officer  (he  was  killed 
a  few  days  later).  We  formed  a  large 
crescent,  which  filled  out  the  whole 
anchorage,  and  against  which  attack 
after  attack  failed,  as  was  proved  that 
night.  We  were  subjected  to  six  of 
these  between  9  p.m.  and  4  a.m.  They 
none  of  them  produced  any  effect  on 
us,  but  the  enemy  must  have  lost  several 
destroyers.  At  any  rate,  I  saw  with  my 


NIGHT  ATTACKS  105 

own  eyes  one  of  them  go  down  in 
the  beam  of  our  searchlight  :  already 
motionless,  probably  owing  to  damaged 
machinery,  she  was  struck  by  several 
projectiles  and  sank  slowly  by  the  stern. 
Nearly  all  these  little  vessels  betrayed 
their  presence  by  the  flames  issuing 
from  their  funnels.  However,  it  was 
just  the  same  with  us,  directly  the  speed 
exceeded  12  knots.  I  am  astonished 
that  our  present-day  engineers  have  not 
yet  found  some  means  to  remedy  a 
defect  which  might  have  such  serious 
consequences. 

A  long  period  of  inaction  followed  on 
this  abortive  expedition  ;  it  was  hardly 
disturbed  by  the  battleships  occasion- 
ally indulging  in  some  high-angle  firing. 
The  cruisers  landed  a  portion  of  their 
guns  to  strengthen  the  coast  defences, 
whilst  the  Novik  was  attached  to  the 
flotilla  and  gunboats,  on  whom  devolved 
the  task  of  taking  the  enemy  in  reverse. 


106  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

As  a  special  measure  and  at  the 
request  of  General  Smirnoff,  who  dreaded 
a  general  assault,  the  battleship  Poltava, 
the  cruisers  Diana,  Pallada,  and  Bayan, 
and  four  gunboats  were  sent  out  with  us 
one  day.  After  having  anchored  in 
suitable  positions  for  taking  the  enemy 
in  reverse,  we  opened  fire,  which  was 
carefully  corrected  from  the  shore  and 
produced  such  brilliant  results  that  the 
general  signalled  to  us  his  congratula- 
tions several  times.  We  were  in  the 
thick  of  it  when  the  well-known  funnels 
of  the  Nishin  and  Kasuga  appeared 
over  the  horizon.  Being  in  superior 
numbers,  we  decided  to  stay  where  we 
were,  or  at  least  await  some  further 
movements  on  the  part  of  the  enemy, 
whose  funnels  were  only  just  visible 
above  the  horizon,  when  to  our  intense 
astonishment  one  of  his  projectiles  sent 
up  a  huge  column  of  water  quite  close 
to  the  Bayan.  The  Poltava  replied  by 


OUT-RANGED  107 

a  shell  which  we  saw  pitch  about  half- 
way. The  Bayan  gave  her  bow  8-inch 
gun  extreme  elevation  and  fired,  but 
the  projectile  was  a  long  way  from 
reaching  the  target.  And  that  is  why 
one  Russian  battleship,  four  cruisers,  and 
four  gunboats  were  forced  to  beat  a 
retreat  before  two  simple  Japanese 
cruisers  !  To  have  continued  the  en- 
gagement under  these  conditions  would 
have  been  perfectly  useless.  Had  we 
tried  to  close  with  the  enemy,  he,  being 
faster  than  we,  would,  while  retiring, 
have  unfailingly  kept  us  under  fire, 
without  allowing  us  to  get  within  range 
of  our  guns,  whilst  the  worst  solution 
would  have  been  to  remain  at  anchor. 
Being  out-ranged  like  this  weighed 
heavily  on  us  throughout  the  war.  Our 
latest  battleships,  such  as  the  Retvisan 
and  Tsesarevitch,  were  still  very  inferior 
to  the  Japanese  on  this  point. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  complaints 


108  SHIPS  F.  TROOPS 

began  to  be  heard  about  the  food.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  was  vodka  in 
plenty.  Small  mountains  of  cases  con- 
taining this  poison  were  stacked  up  on 
the  wharf  of  the  East  Asiatic  Company. 
They  were  not  all  used  up,  as  General 
Stoessel  punished  drunkards  very 
severely,  and  had  given  out  that  he 
would  try  by  court  martial  any  officer 
found  to  be  under  the  influence  of  drink. 
At  the  same  time  he  personally  took  steps 
to  ensure  that  throughout  the  siege 
prices  did  not  become  exorbitant  in  the 
town.  The  slightest  attempt  at  raising 
prices  was  followed  by  confiscation.  Un- 
fortunately, it  was  not  possible  to  apply 
the  same  treatment  to  the  Chinese,  who 
provided  us  with  vegetables,  poultry, 
and  even  butcher's  meat.  Already  in 
June  their  demands  were  exorbitant ; 
they  asked  20  shillings  for  a  "  picul  " 
of  potatoes,  10  to  12  shillings  for  a 
chicken.  Needless  to  say  that  by  the 


FRESH  PROVISIONS          109 

end    of    the    siege    these    figures    had 
trebled. 

Thanks  to  our  captain's  forethought, 
we  had  never  to  worry  about  fresh  pro- 
visions. One  of  our  officers,  who  had 
rented  a  villa  outside  the  town,  gave  it  up 
to  the  ship,  and  our  captain,  Schulz,  had 
bought  a  small  herd  of  cows,  which  had 
been  placed  in  charge  of  one  of  our  blue- 
jackets. Some  of  these  even  calved,  and 
when  our  neighbours  were  reduced  to 
salt  pork,  we  were  able  to  offer  our 
friends  veal  cutlets  and  other  kinds  of 
fresh  meat.  Our  150  hens  never  left 
us  without  fresh  eggs  or  young  chickens. 
The  remainder  of  our  farmyard  consisted 
of  pigs,  sheep,  geese,  and  duck.  On 
board  the  Novik  we  unearthed  two  for- 
mer gardeners,  who  planted  every  kind 
of  vegetable  at  the  commencement  of  the 
siege.  Thus  by  July  our  table  boasted 
of  onions,  which  were  very  much  ap- 
preciated, besides  numbers  of  other 
8* 


110  SHIPS  V.  TROOPS 

good  vegetables.  The  following  month, 
when  our  brethren  of  the  army  were 
obliged  to  eat  their  donkeys,  our  ship's 
company  drew  every  morning  their 
ration  of  fresh  meat.  We  have  all  re- 
mained deeply  grateful  to  our  good 
Captain  Schulz,  thanks  to  whose  care 
we  were  not  only  saved  from  hunger, 
but  even  spared  the  bad  food  which  was 
one  of  the  great  trials  of  the  siege. 


CHAPTER    VII 

NAVAL  ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

As  soon  as  they  had,  in  the  first  days  of 
August,  mounted  on  Wolf  Hill  their 
4 '7-inch  siege  guns,  the  Japanese  began 
to  bombard  the  town  and  inner  anchor- 
age. They  only  fired  in  broad  daylight, 
so  as  to  prevent  our  locating  their 
gun  positions.  Notwithstanding  all  our 
efforts  we  never  succeeded  in  doing  so. 

Punctually  at  7  a.m.  the  first  gun  went 
off,  and  the  fire  only  ceased  at  sunset. 
In  the  whole  of  Port  Arthur  there  was 
not  a  spot  as  big  as  a  handkerchief  which 
could  not  have  been  searched  by  their 
shell.  It  will  be  readily  understood 
why,  especially  during  the  first  days, 


112      ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

cheerfulness  was  not  the  dominating 
note  in  the  place. 

The  principal  target  appeared  to  be 
the  East  Basin,  surrounded  by  the  work- 
shops, the  dockyard,  and  our  coal  store. 
As  our  usual  berth  was  precisely  abreast 
of  the  latter  (which  they  would  have 
been  delighted  to  set  on  fire),  we  spent  our 
afternoons  with  our  hands  folded,  sadly 
awaiting  the  blows  we  were  unable  to 
return.  The  projectiles  pitched  so  thick 
and  close  to  us  that  the  admiral  at  last 
made  up  his  mind  to  shift  us.  We  had 
hardly  moved  off,  when  a  shell  struck 
the  face  of  the  stone  wharf  alongside 
which  we  had  been  secured,  and  made  an 
enormous  hole. 

Next  day,  just  as  we  were  sitting  down 
to  lunch  with  a  few  guests  attracted  by 
our  sumptuous  fare,  the  signalman  of 
the  watch  appeared  in  the  mess  and 
reported  solemnly  to  the  first  lieu- 
tenant :  "  The  shell  are  bursting  just 


BEING  BOMBARDED         113 

overhead,  sir."  Upon  which  everyone 
shouted  in  chorus  :  "  Then  it  is  high 
time  we  drank  to  our  health."  And 
everyone  voted  himself  an  additional 
glass  of  cognac.  In  truth,  what  else 
could  we  have  done  ? 

Except  for  the  danger  from  mines  we 
should  have  been  much  better  off  in  the 
outer  anchorage,  where  moreover  our 
ears  would  not  have  been  tortured  by 
the  terrifying  crash  of  the  guns  going  off, 
followed  by  the  disagreeable  sound  of 
the  shell  bursting.  It  was  with  a  sigh 
of  relief  that  we  got  under  weigh  and 
passed  through  the  narrow  entrance  to 
the  basin.  Still,  the  few  minutes  re- 
quired for  the  latter  were  always  rather 
critical  ones.  I  fancy  I  have  already 
mentioned  that  the  Japanese  invariably 
fired  in  series  of  five  rounds,  preferably 
at  our  coal  stores.  When,  therefore,  the 
first  hit  had  been  located,  it  was  fairly 
easy  to  foretell  where  the  next  would 


114     ACTION   OF  AUGUST  10 

pitch.  Being  one  day  precisely  in  the 
entrance,  which  we  just  filled  from  end 
to  end,  the  first  shot  of  a  series  fell  in 
the  town,  the  second  on  the  harbour- 
master's office,  the  third  on  the  landing- 
steps.  Consequently  the  fourth  would 
fall  into  the  entrance,  and  the  whole  of 
the  after  part  of  the  ship  was  still  in 
this  danger  zone.  The  few  seconds' 
suspense  appeared  terribly  long,  as 
everyone  was  saying  to  himself  that  the 
projectile  intended  for  us  was  already  on 
its  way.  At  last  the  stern  was  clear  of 
the  two  walls,  and  four  yards  from  the 
spot  we  had  just  passed  over  one  of 
these  infernal  shell  burst  with  a  sharp 
report.  The  ship's  company,  in  the 
reaction  following  on  a  period  of  sus- 
pense, began  to  jeer  at  the  "  Japs  "  and 
their  peashooters. 

About  the  end  of  July  the  Viceroy's 
requests  to  our  admiral  to  go  out  and 
drive  off  the  Japanese  became  more  and 


MISLEADING  REPORTS      115 

more  pressing.  As  to  the  latter,  His 
Excellency  gave  us  the  most  fantastic 
information  :  that  their  ships  were  so 
knocked  about  that  Japan  did  not 
possess  enough  docks  to  take  them  all 
in,  that  the  rifling  of  their  heavy  guns 
was  so  corroded  that  these  had  lost  all 
accuracy.  As  to  the  personnel :  the 
strain  of  the  blockade  had  so  used  them 
up  that  nothing  more  was  to  be  expected 
of  them.  In  fact,  according  to  the 
Viceroy  it  would  have  been  sufficient 
for  us  to  have  put  our  nose  outside,  and 
our  adversary  would  have  fled.  How- 
ever, as  we  on  our  side  were  making 
observations  on  the  spot,  we  knew 
exactly  what  to  think  of  the  vessels 
which  were  actually  before  our  eyes, 
and  which  included  those  which  Ad- 
miral Alexeieff  had  told  us  had  either 
been  sunk  or  were  under  repair  in  Japan. 
A  few  were  certainly  missing :  the  battle- 
ships Yaahima  and  Hats  use,  the  cruiser 


116     ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

Myako,  and  a  few  gunboats,  but  this  was 
far  from  redressing  the  balance,  and  the 
scales  could  anyhow  not  have  been 
weighed  down  on  our  side,  as,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  12-pounders  and 
machine  guns,  all  our  light  guns  had 
been  landed,  whilst  our  best  cruiser,  the 
Bay  an,  was  still  in  dock  being  repaired, 
after  having  struck  a  mine. 

The  Viceroy's  orders  became  more 
and  more  pressing.  Admiral  Vityeft  re- 
presented to  him,  but  without  success, 
in  what  a  lamentable  state  he  (as  he 
pretended)  found  himself  to  be,  and 
called  a  council  of  war  consisting  of  the 
senior  officers  of  both  services.  Of 
course  I  was  not  included  in  this  number, 
but  some  of  those  that  were  assured  me 
that  the  finding  of  the  council  was 
summed  up  in  the  following  formula  :— 

"  The  squadron  is  unable  to  leave 
Port  Arthur,  where  its  presence  is  in- 


COUNCIL  OF  WAR  117 

dispensable  to  the  defence  of  the  place, 
owing  to  the  assistance  it  gives  in  guns, 
provisions,  and  especially  in  personnel, 
of  which  a  naval  brigade  of  7000  men 
can  be  formed." 

It  was  whispered  that  at  the  bare 
suggestion  that  the  squadron  might 
abandon  him,  General  Stoessel  was  so 
terrified  that  he  swore  he  would  consider 
such  an  action  as  shameful  flight,  and 
would  order  the  coast  batteries  to  fire 
on  us. 

Everybody  present  signed  the  finding 
except  two  naval  officers,  who  ob- 
stinately refused  to  do  so,  giving  as  their 
reason  that  the  proper  part  for  the 
squadron  to  play  was  to  take  its  chances 
in  blue  water.  The  names  of  these  two 
officers  were  :  Captain  von  Essen,  at  the 
time  in  command  of  the  battleship 
Sebastopol,  and  before  that  of  the  Novik, 
and  Commander  Lazareff,  his  former 


118      ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

second  -  in  -  command,  and  now  com- 
manding the  gunboat  Otvajny.  Neither 
of  them  could  ever  be  got  to  concur  in 
the  generally  accepted  view,  and  both 
preserved  their  original  attitude  until 
the  end  of  the  siege. 

In  thinking  over  all  that  happened 
later,  I  have  reached  some  truly  sad 
conclusions  :  of  all  the  vessels  present 
at  Port  Arthur  at  the  moment  of  the 
capitulation,  and  which  had  been  sunk 
by  the  enemy's  heavy  siege  guns,  only 
two  declined  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
the  harbour,  where  they  were  unable 
to  defend  themselves.  These  were  the 
Sevastopol  and  the  Otvajny,  whose  cap- 
tains were  the  only  ones  to  oppose  the 
verdict  of  the  council  of  war,  and  who  at 
a  critical  moment  saved  their  vessels 
from  useless  destruction,  as  they  went 
out  and  for  a  long  time  resisted  all 
torpedo  attacks.  I  cannot  help  the 
distressing  thought :  Was  it  not  possible 


DISTRESSING  THOUGHTS     119 

to  do  something  to  avoid  the  disgrace  of 
seeing  our  fighting  ships  sunk  in  our  own 
harbour  ?  Or  was  this  crime,  by  chance, 
premeditated  ?  Were  the  captains  really 
unable  to  go  to  sea,  or  did  they  merely 
prefer  to  remain  hidden  behind  their 
armour  plates  ? 

The  officers  of  the  Sebastopol  main- 
tained that  every  kind  of  obstacle  was 
placed  in  their  captain's  way  when  he 
wanted  to  take  his  ship  out  of  harbour ; 
it  went  even  so  far  that  the  use  of  any 
tug  was  refused  him,  and  he  finally  seized 
one  by  force.  These  serious  questions 
have,  so  far  as  I  know,  not  been  raised 
before  ;  they  ought  surely  to  form  the 
subject  of  a  thorough  inquiry. 

When  the  decision  of  the  council  of 
war  reached  the  Viceroy  he  realised 
that  his  own  influence  was  insufficient  to 
overcome  the  admiral's  indecision,  and 
he  took  the  extreme  step  of  sending  the 
following  telegram  to  Port  Arthur  on 


120     ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

9th  August  :  "  His  Majesty  the  Emperor 
commands  the  squadron  to  weigh  and 
proceed  to  Vladivostok." 

There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  bow 
and  prepare  for  sea.  The  ships  coaled 
all  night,  and  at  daylight  on  10th  August 
the  move  began. 

As  the  notes  which  I  took  at  the  time 
were  lost  when  the  Novik  was  wrecked  I 
am  unable  to  give  all  the  data  of  the 
action  in  detail,  still  I  can  rely  on  my 
memory  sufficiently  to  give  a  true 
account  of  what  happened,  and  which 
differs  materially  from  that  presented 
by  the  tales  of  the  various  newspapers 
and  on  which  the  general  public  has 
formed  its  opinion  so  far. 

Just  as  on  23rd  June,  the  difficulties 
and  delays  in  getting  the  ships  out  had 
its  evil  influence  on  the  result  of  the 
day.  The  Novik  was  the  first  to  reach 
the  outer  anchorage  at  4  a.m.  She  was 
to  convoy  the  mine  sweepers,  charged  to 


OUT  ONCE  MORE  121 

clear  the  channel.  Notwithstanding  all 
our  efforts,  the  squadron  took  five  hours 
to  get  out,  and  these  five  hours  allowed 
the  Japanese  to  make  their  disposition 
at  leisure.  Had  we  all  been  able  to 
weigh  together  at  4  a.m.,  we  should  have 
been  well  away  before  the  enemy  could 
have  effected  his  concentration. 

The  destroyers  and  steam  hoppers 
were  still  sweeping  ahead  of  the  squadron 
when  the  hostile  flotillas  already  showed 
signs  of  wanting  to  attack.  At  the 
sight  of  this  our  captain,  without  further 
orders,  quitted  his  station,  passed  ahead 
of  the  sweepers,  and  drove  off  the 
troublesome  enemy. 

Our  force  numbered  ten  vessels,  in- 
cluding the  Novik,  whose  insignificant 
armament  hardly  entitled  her  to  be 
reckoned  as  one  of  the  fighting  units. 
The  battleships  Tsesarevitch,  Retvisan, 
Peresviet,  and  Pobieda  formed  a  fairly 
good  nucleus  of  modern,  and  even  fast 
9 


122     ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

vessels,  but  the  Sebastopol  and  Poltava, 
already  aged  and  unable  to  do  more  than 
12  knots,  prevented  the  squadron  from 
exceeding  this  speed.  Had  these  two 
ships  been  left  behind,  the  rest  could 
have  kept  up  16,  or  even  17  knots,  amply 
sufficient  for  us  to  escape.  It  was  these 
12  knots  that  made  the  Japanese  master 
of  the  situation.  Of  the  cruisers  there 
was  the  Askold,  an  ordinary  protected 
cruiser,  made  valuable  by  its  armament 
and  speed  ;  the  sister  ships  Diana  and 
Pallada,  built  in  Russia,  mediocre  results 
of  long  deliberations,  in  spite  of  which 
they  finally  found  themselves  without 
either  an  armament  of  any  value,  pro- 
tection, or  even  speed — in  fact,  just 
about  fit  to  act  as  targets.  All  they 
possessed  of  the  attributes  of  a  modern 
cruiser  was  their  being  called  so.  In 
conclusion,  I  must  state  that  several  of 
their  6-inch  guns  had  been  landed  and 
mounted  in  coast  batteries,  and  that  in 


FATAL  PRESENTIMENTS     123 

consequence  of  one  of  the  SebastopoV s 
12-inch  guns  having  been  seriously 
damaged  in  the  breech,  the  piece  had 
been  landed  and  replaced  by  a  wooden 
model  as  "  make  belief."  As  to  the 
Bayan,  I  have  mentioned  before  that 
being  still  laid  up  in  dry  dock,  she  was 
not  able  to  accompany  us. 

Admiral  Vityeft  was  so  convinced 
that  he  would  never  reach  Vladivostok 
that  he  reported  this  to  the  Emperor  by 
a  telegram  he  dispatched  to  Chifoo  by  a 
destroyer  at  the  time  of  our  sailing.  At 
the  same  time  he  made  no  secret  to  his 
staff  of  his  presentiment  that  he  would 
be  beaten  and  killed.  When  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  is  in  such  a  frame  of 
mind  he  imparts  it  to  those  around  him 
to  a  fatal  extent.  Our  squadron  started 
with  the  firm  conviction  that  it  was 
going  to  meet  with  disaster,  and  this 
could  not  help  having  a  very  bad  effect 
on  the  captains. 


124     ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

The  Japanese  mustered  23  units,  not 
counting  30  destroyers,  which  number 
was  doubled  by  sunset.  The  mere  com- 
parison of  numbers  on  the  two  sides 
made  our  inferiority  patent  to  all  eyes. 

At  about  12.30  the  two  squadrons, 
which  had  been  steering  converging 
courses  in  single  line  ahead,  mutually 
opened  fire.  Except  for  one  short  res- 
pite, no  change  took  place  until  about 
three  o'clock,  and  during  this  time,  so 
far  as  I  was  able  to  make  out,  none  of 
our  ships  had  been  seriously  damaged. 
We  made  our  way  slowly  to  the  south- 
east, frequently  obliged  to  ease  down  on 
account  of  iheSebastopol  andPoZtoa,  who 
were  unable  to  keep  up.  The  cruisers 
had  left  the  line  during  the  second  phase 
and  had  formed  line  ahead  on  the  dis- 
engaged beam  of  the  battle  squadron; 
they  really  took  no  part  in  the  action. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  action 
the  Japanese  had  only  twelve  vessels  in 


ONE  FATAL  SHELL          125 

the  line  ;  these  were  joined  successively 
by  several  divisions  of  2nd  class  cruisers 
coming  up  from  the  south.  The  old 
ironclad  Chen-Yuen,  accompanied  by 
three  cruisers,  hove  in  sight  at  the 
same  time  in  the  north. 

At  about  4.30  p.m.  the  enemy  closed, 
and  the  action  became  hot.  This  time 
the  projectiles  got  home.  We  were  able 
to  see  their  effect  on  our  battleships, 
such  as  masts  shot  away,  funnels  ripped 
up,  etc.  As  regards  their  hulls,  since 
we  were  on  the  disengaged  side,  we 
were  unable  to  see  whether  they  had 
been  hit. 

At  about  five  o'clock  the  flagship 
Tsesarevitch  turned  off  sharp  to  port 
without  any  signal.  Owing  to  some 
serious  damage  she  was  no  longer  under 
control.  The  other  battleships,  thinking 
that  this  movement  was  intended,  tried 
to  follow  in  the  flagship's  wake.  Soon 
afterwards  we  were  informed  that  Ad- 
9* 


126     ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

miral  Vityeft  had  been  killed,  and  that 
Rear  -  Admiral  Prince  Uktomsky  had 
assumed  command. 

Meanwhile  the  battleships,  which  had 
followed  the  flagship's  movements,  had 
formed  a  compact  mass  round  her. 
They  were  in  no  kind  of  order  and  head- 
ing in  every  direction.  Naturally  no- 
thing had  been  prearranged  to  meet 
such  a  contingency,  in  fact  there  never 
existed,  even  in  embryo,  anything  in  the 
shape  of  battle  orders.  The  Retvisan 
took  the  lead  in  heading  for  the  enemy, 
who  appeared  to  contemplate  ramming. 
Our  other  ships  then  did  the  same,  and 
covered  the  flagship  by  the  fire  of  their 
bow  guns.  The  Japanese,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  general  confusion,  and 
especially  of  the  fact  that  our  ships  were 
all  clubbed  together,  increased  their 
rate  of  fire  and  poured  a  hail  of  pro- 
jectiles over  our  distracted  ships. 

The  Peresviet  (the  flagship  of  the  new 


GALLANT  RETVISAN        127 

commander),  having  lost  both  her  top- 
masts, managed  at  last  to  display  on  her 
bridge  rails  the  signal  for  the  squadron 
to  return  to  Port  Arthur.  As  we  had 
just  received  positive  orders  to  the  con- 
trary from  our  immediate  chief,  the 
admiral  commanding  the  cruisers,  we 
did  not  follow  the  battleships.  However, 
I  never  knew  exactly  what  happened 
then.  I  only  remember  that  at  night- 
fall we  were  steering  a  very  different 
course  from  that  of  the  main  body ;  also 
that  we  were  all  still  quite  lost  in  admira- 
tion of  the  heroism  of  the  Retvisan, 
who  had  exposed  herself  to  the  enemy  so 
as  to  give  the  flagship  time  to  pull 
herself  together  and  had  thus  been  the 
object  of  the  enemy's  concentrated  fire. 
For  some  time  we  saw  her  com- 
pletely surrounded  by  smoke,  lit  up  by 
the  flashes  of  the  projectiles  which  ex- 
ploded against  her  side.  Then  she 
resumed  her  station  in  line. 


128     ACTION  OF  AUGUST  10 

Not  knowing  what  the  condition  of  our 
battleships  then  was,  I  hesitate  to  say 
whether  this  return  to  Port  Arthur  was  a 
good  or  a  bad  move.  What,  however,  I 
can  say,  after  having  passed  through  the 
enemy's  lines,  so  to  speak,  is  that  none 
of  his  ships  showed  any  signs  of  serious 
damage,  and  that  the  Japanese  had 
managed  very  nearly  to  surround  us. 
I  would  add,  in  direct  contradiction  to 
all  that  the  newspapers  have  stated, 
that  their  main  force  blocked  the  road 
to  Vladivostok,  whereas  it  has  been 
made  out  that,  the  Japanese  having 
left  the  road  open  for  us,  we  had  only  to 
stretch  out  our  hand  to  pluck  the  fruits 
of  victory. 

Once  more  :  the  exact  opposite  was  the 
case.  Already  hemmed  in  by  our  ad- 
versary in  superior  numbers,  we  saw  his 
flotillas  swarming  up  from  every  point 
of  the  horizon.  Possibly  another  com- 
mander, more  brave  or  better  pre- 


THE  NEW  ADMIRAL         129 

pared,  would  have  attempted  to  continue 
on  his  road  in  the  face  of  all  risks,  but 
Prince  Uktomsky  had  always  been  con- 
sidered a  second-rate  man,  and  no  one 
expected  him  to  display  such  determina- 
tion. It  is  quite  clear  that  he  ought 
never  to  have  been  made  a  flag  officer, 
but  having  been  made  it,  one  was  bound 
to  take  him  as  he  was.  Perhaps  one 
ought  to  be  grateful  to  him  for  having 
preferred  a  retreat  to  Port  Arthur  to 
surrender  a  la  Nebogatoff . 

One  cannot  order  anyone  to  be  a  hero, 
at  the  most  one  can  express  the  wish  that 
he  be  one. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  "  NOVIK  " 
UNDER  THE  RUSSIAN  FLAG 

AT  the  moment  when  the  battleships 
broke  off  the  engagement  and  headed  for 
Port  Arthur,  the  Askold  (cruiser  flag- 
ship) hoisted  the  signal  to  her  ships  : 
"  Follow  me."  We  did  not  know  what 
was  intended,  but  being  under  her  orders 
we  at  once  took  station  astern  of  her. 
Our  admiral  began  by  describing  a  circle 
round  the  battle  squadron,  and  then  he 
went  full  speed  at  the  enemy's  destroyers, 
which  were  beginning  to  close  in  on  the 
battlefield  like  birds  of  prey  attracted  by 
the  smell  of  a  carcass.  At  our  approach 
they  scattered,  but  their  places  were 


130 


VALUE  OF  SPEED  131 

taken  by  their  cruisers.  If  I  remember 
aright,  we  had  to  starboard  of  us  as  we 
were  following  the  Askold  a  1st  class 
cruiser,  and  to  port  five  or  six  others  of 
different  types. 

The  sun  was  nearing  the  horizon  and 
the  approaching  darkness  would  favour 
our  getting  through  a  gap,  but  in  all 
conscience  the  disproportion  was  too 
glaring  for  us  to  entertain  a  glimmer  of 
hope. 

The  Diana  and  Pallada  at  first  at- 
tempted to  follow  us,  but  gave  it  up 
almost  at  once  owing  to  their  want 
of  speed.  A  lucky  salvo  of  the  Askold 
rid  us  of  the  cruiser  on  the  starboard 
hand,  who  gave  up  the  chase.  So  long 
as  they  were  able  to  see,  the  others  con- 
tinued to  send  projectiles  at  random  in 
our  direction.  As  our  usual  luck  had 
not  yet  deserted  us,  we  got  off  without 
any  serious  damage,  although  the  range 
was  short.  All  the  same,  one  shell 


132     LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

which  burst  on  board  killed  two  men  and 
wounded  our  doctor,  who,  as  ill  luck 
would  have  it,  had  just  come  up  on  the 
bridge  merely  to  have  a  look  round. 
He  said  he  would  have  been  greatly  dis- 
appointed if  he  had  missed  the  chance  of 
witnessing  so  fine  a  trial  of  speed  as  had 
been  going  on  for  over  an  hour. 

The  tension  on  our  nerves  did  not 
really  relax  until  we  felt  certain  that  the 
Japanese  cruisers  were  unable  to  catch 
us  up.  We  saw  them  gradually  drawing 
farther  astern,  until  the  darkness  hid 
us  completely  from  their  view.  Alas ! 
this  episode  was  to  be  the  "  song  of  the 
swan  "  for  the  Novik. 

Modern  boilers  are  very  complicated 
and  require  to  be  tended  with  the 
greatest  care.  They  have  to  be  con- 
stantly swept.  The  life  of  their  tubes 
is  very  short,  and  very  soon  the  day 
arrives  when  they  have  to  be  changed 
by  the  thousand.  At  the  commence- 


OVER-TAXED  BOILERS      133 

ment  of  the  war  the  Novik's  boilers 
had  just  about  reached  their  limit,  and 
required  to  be  completely  re-tubed ; 
and  yet  during  the  seven  months  of  the 
siege  of  Port  Arthur  it  was  as  much  as 
we  were  able,  after  repeated  requests, 
to  snatch  at  long  intervals  a  few  days' 
rest  to  carry  out  the  most  urgent  repairs. 
When  we  were  not  actually  under  steam 
we  had  to  be  ready  to  light  up  at  a 
moment's  notice.  I  am  quite  prepared 
to  admit  that  the  circumstances  de- 
manded this,  but  the  result  was  that  the 
condition  of  our  boilers  was  becoming 
every  day  more  precarious.  The  last 
supreme  effort  we  demanded  of  them,  so 
as  to  break  through  the  circle  of  fire 
which  was  strangling  us,  proved  to  be 
their  coup  de  grace,  and  marked  the 
beginning  of  that  long-drawn-out  death- 
agony  of  the  Novik,  for  whom  speed  was 
everything. 

Night    had    come    on    at    the    most 


134    LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

opportune  moment  for  us  :  no  sooner 
had  it  become  completely  dark  than  we 
had  to  stop  engines,  on  account  of  salt 
water  having  got  into  the  condensers. 
We  then  lost  sight  of  the  Askold,  who 
left  us  to  our  fate,  although  we  signalled 
to  her  asking  her  to  stand  by  us.  Her 
officers  afterwards  stated  that  they  had 
never  taken  in  any  signal  from  us. 

To  reach  Vladivostok  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  us  to  coal  somewhere. 
This  has  astonished  many  people,  and  I 
have  often  been  asked  how  it  was  that, 
barely  outside  Port  Arthur,  we  already 
found  ourselves  short  of  coal.  Our 
captain  was  even  generally  accused  of 
having  shown  want  of  forethought, 
although  the  explanation  is  extremely 
simple  :  before  weighing  we  had  filled 
our  bunkers  to  full  stowage,  about 
500  tons,  which  gave  us,  at  a  liberal 
estimate,  twenty-four  hours  steaming  at 
full  speed.  We  had  now  been  steaming 


SHORT  OF  COAL  135 

for  fifteen  hours,  seven  of  which  were  at 
full  speed,  and  that  was  why  we  had 
not  enough  coal  left  to  reach  Vladivostok. 
Possibly  we  might  have  got  there  at 
economical  speed,  but  there  was  always 
the  chance  of  our  coming  across  one  of 
the  enemy,  and  in  such  a  case  we  should 
have  to  go  ahead  at  full  speed  at  once. 

In  face  of  this  necessity  to  fill  up  with 
coal,  the  captain  decided  to  make  for 
the  nearestport,  to  the  Germans,  on  whose 
welcome  we  could  count.  We  arrived, 
therefore,  the  same  evening  at  Kiao- 
Chao,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  got  through 
the  necessary  formalities,  commenced 
our  operations.  Although  we  worked 
throughout  the  night  our  bunkers  were 
by  no  means  full  at  daylight,  but  the 
rules  1  obliged  us  to  weigh  before  sun- 
rise. 

1  [This  statement  appears  to  be  based  on  a  mis- 
apprehension. Twenty-four  hours  is  the  shortest 
period  allowed  by  the  most  stringent  interpretation 


136    LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

The  morning  sun  thus  found  us  once 
more  outside  and  on  our  way  to  Vladi- 
vostok. We  had  decided  to  go  outside 
Japan,  as  the  Straits  of  Tsu-Shima  were 
infested  with  hostile  warships,  whose 
wireless  messages  our  apparatus  recorded. 

Of  all  my  recollections  of  the  war,  the 
one  of  this  passage  is  certainly  the  most 
painful.  Ten  long  days  of  impatience 
and  anxiety,  always  standing  by  to 
fight,  haunted  by  the  fear  that  our  coal 
might  run  out  before  we  could  reach  our 
goal,  leaving  us  the  choice  of  drifting 
about  like  a  log  at  sea,  or  running 
aground  on  the  enemy's  shores. 

At  first  sight  such  an  uncertainty 
appears  odd  ;  it  would  seem  that  in  a 
man-of-war  the  daily  expenditure  of 
fuel  must  be  accurately  known,  hence 
the  amount  remaining  in  the  bunkers, 
and  consequently  it  should  be  easy  from 

of  the  rule.     Presumably  the  Novik  left  so  early  to 
avoid  being  blockaded  in  port  by  the  enemy.] 


COAL  EXPENDITURE        137 

these  figures  to  calculate  the  distance 
which  the  ship  could  still  steam.  In 
ordinary  times  this  is  perfectly  true,  but 
after  the  seven  months  of  overwork  to 
which  engines  and  boilers  had  been 
subjected  all  official  data  had  become 
unreliable,  and  it  would  have  taken  a 
very  clever  man  to  tell  us  exactly  how 
we  stood.  Let  me  give  an  example. 
As  the  result  of  the  Novik's  trials  30 
tons  a  day  had  been  accepted  as  her 
most  economical  consumption.  Based 
on  that,  we  could  easily  reach  Vladi- 
vostok at  10  knots.  However,  a  very 
disagreeable  surprise  was  sprung  upon 
us  :  we  burnt  50  tons  the  first  day, 
55  the  second,  and  58  the  third.  At 
this  rate  we  should  run  out  of  coal  by 
the  time  we  had  got  to  the  Northern 
straits.  Not  being  able  to  understand 
this  phenomenon,  I  asked  the  chief 
engineer,  who  explained  to  me  that  the 
expenditure  of  coal  rises  in  proportion 

10 


138    LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

to  that  of  the  steam,  which  in  turn 
depends  on  the  proper  working  of  the 
propelling  and  evaporating  machinery, 
which  however  cannot  be  seen  to  in  the 
open  sea.  So  that  for  eight  days  we 
had  this  sword  of  Damocles  hanging 
over  our  heads.  Should  we  get  there  or 
not  ?  Every  possible  thing  was  done 
to  reduce  our  coal  expenditure.  All 
auxiliary  machinery,  such  as  ventilators, 
dynamos,  etc.,  was  stopped.  We  burnt 
waste  mixed  with  paint,  oakum  soaked 
in  oil,  wood,  etc.  In  short,  every  effort 
was  made  to  reach  the  Russian  shores. 
One  of  us  even  suggested  we  should  stop 
at  Mater  Island  and  procure  a  load  of 
wood. 

The  irritated  agitation  of  the  first 
days  was  succeeded  by  a  period  of 
complete  apathy  :  we  wandered  about 
the  ship  like  souls  in  purgatory  resigned 
to  their  fate.  The  engineers  alone  had 
something  to  attend  to. 


MEETING  THE  DIANA       139 

So  as  to  reduce  the  distance,  we  hugged 
the  coast  as  close  as  possible,  and  even 
passed  in  full  view  of  Yokohama,  so 
that  we  quite  expected  to  be  reported 
by  the  signal  stations  and  be  chased. 
At  one  time  we  had  thought  of  stopping 
one  of  the  colliers  we  met  and  requisi- 
tioning some  of  their  cargo.  This,  how- 
ever, would  have  been  too  risky  in  sight 
of  the  Japanese  coast,  but  once  through 
the  Tsugaru  Straits  we  never  came 
across  another. 

I  observe  that  I  was  on  the  point  of 
omitting  to  say  how  we  met  the  Diana 
accompanied  by  one  of  our  destroyers.1 
Having  sighted  two  columns  of  smoke 
on  the  horizon,  we  beat  to  quarters  ; 
then,  having  made  out  the  destroyer  to 
be  one  of  ours,  we  closed  the  two  vessels. 
Our  captain  signalled  to  the  Diana  that 
we  were  on  our  way  to  Vladivostok  and 
suggested  our  going  there  in  company. 

1  [Compare  Rasplata,  p.  238  et  seq.] 


140     LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

We  are  still  waiting  for  her  reply ! 
The  Diana  and  her  destroyer  calmly 
continued  their  southerly  course. 

In  connection  with  this  incident  I 
should  like  to  refer  to  the  articles  of 
the  journalist  Parfenoff,  who  had  the 
impudence  to  blame  our  captain  for 
having  dared  to  steam  to  Vladivostok 
with  so  small  a  vessel,  instead  of  pro- 
ceeding to  a  neutral  port  to  be  disarmed 
as  the  other  vessels  had  done.  Nothing 
would  have  been  easier  for  us  than  to 
remain  at  Kiao-Chao  under  the  German 
flag,  but  I  hasten  to  add  that  no  one, 
from  the  captain  down  to  the  youngest 
bluejacket,  ever  thought  of  doing  so. 
It  would  have  appeared  to  us  an  act  of 
cowardice  thus  to  hide  from  the  enemy, 
like  chickens  who  crawl  under  the 
protecting  wings  of  the  mother  hen  at 
sight  of  the  hawk.  We  might  just 
as  well  have  surrendered  at  once,  for 
one  can  only  strike  the  flag  when  one 


DISARM  OR  SURRENDER     141 

feels  convinced  that  the  enemy's  superi- 
ority is  such  as  to  make  any  further 
struggle  impossible.  Does  not  the  act 
of  disarming  one's  vessel  in  a  neutral 
port  really  express  the  same  confession 
of  impotence  ?  To  strike  the  flag  comes 
to  the  same  thing,  with  this  material 
difference  :  that  in  the  latter  case  one  is 
in  the  open  sea  and  under  the  guns  of 
the  enemy,  and  not  in  the  safe  waters 
of  a  neutral  port. 

Admiral  Nebogatoff  is  about  to  be  put 
on  his  trial  for  surrendering  his  squadron, 
but  in  my  opinion  those  cowards  should 
be  tried  first  who  saved  their  skins  by 
deserting  the  field  of  battle  for  the  safe 
refuge  of  Manila. 

These  attacks  by  Parfenoff  made 
me  furious :  he  committed  the  infamy 
of  putting  our  captain  in  the  pillory 
because  he,  scorning  such  a  compromise, 
loyally  carried  out  the  Emperor's  orders 

to    go    to    Vladivostok.     We    did    not 
10* 


142     LAST  DAYS   OF  THE  NOVIK 

reach  our  goal,  as  the  good  fortune 
which  had  up  to  then  stood  by  the  Novik 
had  deserted  her.  The  consciences  of 
the  captain  and  all  her  crew  can  be 
perfectly  calm  :  everything  that  was 
humanly  possible  had  been  done. 

As  we  neared  the  Kurile  Islands  it 
became  clear  that  the  small  amount  of 
coal  remaining  would  only  just  enable 
us  to  reach  Korsakoff  (at  the  southern 
extremity  of  Saghalien  Island),  where 
we  would  be  able  to  fill  up.  Our  course 
took  us  close  to  a  lighthouse  the  Japan- 
ese have  erected  in  the  Kuriles.  We  had 
to  pass  it  in  daylight,  which  was  very 
dangerous,  for  it  was  certainly  joined  up 
with  the  mainland  by  cable.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  could  not  stop  and  wait 
for  darkness  to  set  in,  as  we  had  not 
enough  coal  for  this  delay.  At  all  costs 
we  had  to  go  on.  It  turned  out  that 
the  lighthouse  was  completely  enveloped 
in  fog,  but  at  the  very  moment  when 


DIFFICULT  COALING        143 

we  were  rounding  it  the  fog  lifted 
momentarily,  and  the  people  in  charge 
had  us  before  them  as  if  they  held 
us  in  the  hollow  of  the  hand.  As  we 
feared,  the  keeper  rushed  to  his  tele- 
graph instrument,  and  in  the  shortest 
time  our  chase  was  taken  up  by  the 
enemy. 

The  moment  we  arrived  at  Korsakoff 
we  started  off  coaling.  Needless  to  say 
that  nothing  had  been  prepared,  which 
in  truth  was  natural  enough,  seeing  that 
we  were  not  expected.  We  therefore 
had  first  to  load  the  trucks,  push  them 
along  the  rails  to  the  wharf,  tip  them 
into  lighters  and  tow  these  to  the  ship. 
This  job  happened  to  fall  to  my  share. 
I  cannot  find  words  to  express  that 
sense  of  well-being  which  permeated  my 
whole  body  on  setting  foot  on  shore. 
After  eight  harassing  days  at  sea  to 
tread  once  more  Russian  soil  with  the 
knowledge  that  a  part  of  the  problem 


144     LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

at  least  was  now  solved,  that  only  a  few 
hours  separated  us  from  Vladivostok, 
whence  the  Novik  could  no  longer  be 
hunted  out  like  a  wild  beast :  was  not 
all  this  enough  to  make  one's  heart  over- 
flow with  childlike  joy  ?  The  luxurious 
vegetation  of  the  south  of  Saghalien 
added  to  this  feeling.  My  men,  who 
clearly  shared  this  feeling,  undertook 
this  dirty  job  with  keenness,  even  with 
cheerfulness. 

Our  task  was  nearing  its  completion  : 
there  only  remained  two  lighters  to  tow 
off,  when  the  ship  suddenly  made  the 
signal  to  stop  everything  and  to 
return  on  board  with  all  hands,  as  our 
wireless  apparatus  was  recording  Japan- 
ese messages.  I  felt  as  if  something 
had  given  way  in  my  interior.  In  a 
flash  it  was  clear  to  me  that  all  was  lost, 
and  my  joy  instantly  turned  into  bitter 
despair.  How  hard  it  was  to  leave  this 
charming  little  spot,  so  pleasing  to  the 


UNWELCOME  INTERRUPTION   145 

eye,  to  face  so  hazardous  an  under- 
taking as  this  meeting  with  an  unknown 
enemy  !  From  the  moment  the  Japan- 
ese were  sending  wireless  messages  it 
showed  that  there  was  more  than  one 
of  them :  one  does  not  usually  converse 
with  oneself  by  wireless.  How  many 
were  they  ?  Each  Japanese  cruiser 
was  by  herself  superior  to  the  Novik, 
which  moreover  had  lost  some  of  her 
speed,  owing  to  the  bursting  of  tubes. 

Korsakoff  lies  at  the  bottom  of  Benibo 
Bay — a  regular  cul-de-sac,  out  of  which 
it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  get 
away.  The  hour  of  the  final  issue  was 
very  near  ! 

Whilst  these  sad  thoughts  were  chas- 
ing one  another  in  my  brain,  my  men 
had  manned  the  boats.  A  few  minutes 
later  we  were  alongside  the  Novik,  who 
got  under  weigh  at  once  and  headed 
for  some  smoke  we  saw  on  the  horizon. 
It  was  very  evident  that  everyone 


146     LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

realised  how  critical  the  situation  was : 
there  was  none  of  the  usual  chaffing 
and  joking.  Everybody  was  absorbed 
in  the  preparation  for  action,  all  the 
while  keeping  an  anxious  eye  in  the 
direction  of  the  enemy  to  try  and 
make  out  which  of  his  ships  it  was  we 
had  to  face.  Our  uncertainty  did  not 
last  long.  The  ship  now  in  sight  could 
only  be  either  the  Niitaka  or  the 
Tsushima,  both  of  which  carried  six 
6-inch  guns  and  ten  12-pounders,  where- 
as we  only  had  six  4-7-inch  guns  to  meet 
them  with.  Our  situation,  already  dis- 
advantageous, was  made  worse  by  the 
fact  that  we  felt  that  another  ship  was 
coming  from  the  direction  of  the  Straits 
of  La  Perouse.  Though  we  were  steam- 
ing for  all  we  were  worth,  the  distance 
rapidly  decreased,  and  the  enemy's  hull 
was  soon  visible  above  the  horizon. 
She  could  be  made  out  clearly  with  the 
naked  eye ;  with  glasses  one  could  see  the 


THE  LAST  ACTION  147 

men  on  the  upper  deck.  She  suddenly 
altered  course,  and  a  small  flame  jutted 
out  from  her  side.  We  instantly  re- 
plied with  every  gun  that  could  bear. 
The  die  was  cast ! 

As  usual,  the  first  rounds  went  over, 
but  the  range  was  soon  found,  and  the 
first  report  came  up  from  below :  "  Shell 
burst  in  the  first  lieutenant's  cabin." 
No  sooner  had  the  boatswain's  party 
rushed  to  the  spot,  when  a  second  report 
came,  "  Shell  burst  on  the  lower  deck," 
followed  almost  at  once  by  "  Shell  burst 
in  the  ward-room."  As  we  did  not 
cease  fire,  the  boatswain's  party  had  to 
attend  at  three  different  places  at  the 
same  time.  To  our  great  satisfaction, 
we  observed  our  shell  falling  pretty 
regularly  on  the  target.  There  were  a 
few  more  hits  in  our  upper  works,  but 
nothing  below  water,  and  no  one  had 
so  far  been  hurt.  We  plucked  up  cour- 
age, when  the  ominous  news  came  up 


148     LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

from  the  engine-room  that  in  two  of 
the  boilers  tubes  had  burst,  and  our 
speed  dropped  at  once.  Rage  at  our 
impotence  strangled  me.  I  began  to 
swear  horribly.  I  had  no  idea  at  whom 
my  anger  was  directed.  I  wished  I 
could  have  concentrated  it  only  on  the 
enemy. 

A  small  projectile  passed  over  the 
poop,  cut  the  gunlayer  at  one  of  the  stern 
guns  literally  in  half,  and  badly  wounded 
two  of  his  gun's  crew.  I  said  to  myself, 
"It  is  getting  hot.  When  will  my  turn 
come  ?  "  but  by  force  of  habit  I  continued 
in  a  mechanical  way  to  give  my  orders. 
The  gunlayer  of  the  disengaged  gun  took 
the  place  of  the  one  who  had  been  killed, 
and  without  even  taking  the  trouble  to 
move  the  body  away,  he  calmly  fired  off 
round  after  round,  to  avenge  his  ship- 
mate. 

An  awful  explosion  took  place  behind 
me.  At  the  same  instant  I  felt  a  blow 


WOUNDED  149 

on  my  head  and  a  sharp  pain  in  my  side. 
My  breath  failed  me,  and  feeling  sure 
that  I  was  nearly  cut  in  half,  my  eyes 
instinctively  looked  about  for  a  good 
place  to  fall.  By  degrees  my  breath 
returned,  and  I  realised  that  my  head 
alone  was  badly  hurt,  and  that  I  had 
only  a  simple  contusion  in  my  side. 
Killed  and  wounded  were  lying  around 
me.  I  heard  groans,  and  the  drummer, 
full  of  sympathy,  came  up  and  whispered 
in  my  ear,  "  You  are  losing  your  brains, 
sir,"  which  under  any  other  circumstances 
would  have  made  me  smile.  How  in- 
deed could  I  keep  myself  upright  with- 
out brains  ?  I  felt  my  head  all  over,  and 
my  hand  met  something  warm  and  soft, 
which  must  have  been  a  large  clot  of 
blood.  I  felt  no  pain,  and  tied  up  my 
face  with  my  handkerchief.  Then  I 
began  to  lift  up  the  wounded.  A  single 
projectile  had  been  sufficient  to  kill 
ten  men. 


150    LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

I  heard  that  a  very  bad  inrush  of 
water  had  taken  place  in  the  tiller  com- 
partment. The  ship  was  now  down  by 
the  stern  and  had  a  heel  at  the  same 
time.  An  engineer  came  up  to  say  that 
two  more  boilers  had  to  be  shut  off. 
That  made  six  altogether,  and  our  speed 
was  reduced  by  one-half.  We  were  just 
beginning  to  feel  that  soon  it  would 
be  impossible  to  go  on,  when  a  report 
came  up  from  below  that  the  water  was 
rising  so  fast  aft  that  the  steering  engine 
was  no  longer  working.  Without  a 
rudder  it  was  impossible  to  fight,  at  the 
most  we  could  merely  move  ahead. 

The  poop  had,  so  to  speak,  ceased  to 
exist.  Only  the  two  guns  remained,  not 
having  been  touched,  by  some  miracle, 
and  kept  up  a  hot  fire.  Except  for  two 
or  three  men,  the  crews  had  all  been 
swept  away.  Anyone  at  hand  had  been 
taken  to  replace  them. 

It  was  then  that  to  our  intense  as- 


ENEMY  SHEERS  OFF        151 

tonishment  we  saw  our  adversary,  who 
no  doubt  was  well  aware  of  our  sad 
plight,  instead  of  increasing  his  fire, 
cease  it  altogether  and  make  off  at  top 
speed.  After  having  saluted  his  retreat 
with  a  few  shell,  we  dragged  ourselves 
with  one  engine  only  back  to  Korsakoff, 
to  bind  up  our  wounds. 

The  tiller  compartment  being  now 
completely  flooded,  the  water  began  to 
invade  the  ward-room.  No  longer  sure 
of  reaching  port,  we  hugged  the  coast  as 
close  as  possible,  so  as  to  be  able  at  least 
to  save  the  ship's  company  if  things 
came  to  their  worst.  However,  we 
managed  to  reach  Korsakoff,  and  after 
dropping  an  anchor,  at  once  started 
examining  the  damage  done.  Alas  !  there 
was  not  the  slightest  chance  of  saving 
the  Novik  ;  the  holes  under  water  were 
too  many  and  too  big  for  us  to  attempt 
to  repair  them  in  one  night,  as  we  were 
not  even  able  to  get  rid  of  the  water  : 


152     LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  NOVIK 

Korsakoff  not  possessing  any  means  for 
such  a  purpose,  and  our  own  being  all 
destroyed  or  drowned. 

I  remembered  that  one  hit  by  a  big  shell 
on  9th  February  had  kept  us  ten  days 
in  dry  dock  at  Port  Arthur,  and  Heaven 
only  knows  how  the  workmen  had  been 
hustled  to  get  the  work  finished. 

To  have  faced  another  action  in  these 
conditions  would  have  amounted  to  sheer 
folly.  It  was  even  impossible  to  move 
the  ship,  as  the  Japanese  had  reappeared 
with  fresh  forces  to  oppose  us.  We  had 
seen  the  beams  of  their  searchlights  all 
night.  All  that  was  left  for  us  to  do  was 
to  sink  the  ship,  or,  to  be  accurate,  the 
bows,  as  the  stern  was  already  immersed. 
We  therefore  scuttled  our  poor  Novik  in 
shallow  water,  being  simple  enough  to 
imagine  that  assistance  would  presently 
be  sent  from  Vladivostok  to  refloat  and 
tow  into  a  place  of  safety  this  unhappy 
vessel,  abandoned  in  Russian  territory. 


SHIP  SCUTTLED  153 

How  could  we  know  that  the  Treaty  of 
Portsmouth  would  cede  to  the  Japan- 
ese, together  with  the  southern  part  of 
Saghalien,  our  glorious  wreck  ? 

The  crew  was  disembarked  the  next 
morning.  All  that  remained  to  be  seen 
of  our  poor  ship  were  the  funnels  and  the 
superstructures.  What  bitter  grief  to 
abandon  her  in  such  a  state !  Alas  !  she 
died  in  pain.  Uninterrupted  work  had 
done  for  her  in  the  end  and  reduced  her 
to  a  state  of  immobility.  "  The  pitcher 
goes  once  too  often  to  the  well  and  is 
broken  at  last." 


ii 


CHAPTER    IX 

ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

OUR  men  were  billeted  in  part  on  the 
inhabitants,  in  part  in  the  barracks. 
The  officers  established  themselves  in  a 
private  house.  The  wounded  had  been 
taken  to  the  hospital  :  two  of  them, 
who  had  undergone  severe  operations, 
died  of  gangrene,  in  spite  of  the  utmost 
care  lavished  upon  them  by  the  civilian 
doctor,  Vladimiroff.  It  was  really  due 
to  the  very  obsolete  fittings  of  the 
hospital.  There  certainly  was  a  military 
surgeon  in  the  place,  but  he  was  a 
charming  young  man,  who  devoted  more 
attention  to  music  than  to  his  medical 
charges.  As  to  our  own  doctor,  Livitzin, 


154 


ORDERS  FROM  VLADIVOSTOK   155 

we  have  seen  how  he  was  wounded  in 
the  hand  when  we  were  steaming  away 
from  Port  Arthur.  Although  incapaci- 
tated from  performing  any  operation 
himself,  this  did  not  prevent  him  ren- 
dering assistance  to  Dr.  Vladimiroff 
when  the  latter  had  to  amputate,  first 
an  arm,  then  a  leg ;  he  did  it,  too, 
so  simply,  whilst  awaiting  his  own 
turn  to  be  bandaged,  and  apparently 
without  hearing  the  complaints  and 
even  the  howls  of  some  of  the  other 
patients. 

If  my  memory  is  correct,  Admiral 
Skridloff  telegraphed  to  our  captain  the 
very  morning  after  our  grounding,  to 
proceed  at  once  to  Vladivostok,  where 
he  was  keeping  the  command  of  the 
armoured  cruiser  Gramoboy  open  for 
him.  The  officers  and  men  of  the  Novik 
were  to  proceed  to  Vladivostok  overland. 
This  journey  would  be  long  and  weari- 
some. We  were  quite  400  miles  from 


156         ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

Alexandroff,  and  the  mere  question  of 
victualling  the  party  was  no  light  task. 
Our  road  led  in  turn  across  deserts  and 
immense  tracts  of  marshy  forests,  called 
Taiga,  where  the  post  road  very  soon 
degenerates  into  a  mere  path,  hardly 
recognisable,  and  where  one  only  meets 
an  occasional  escaped  convict. 

If  I  were  not  afraid  of  hurting  the 
feelings  of  those  kind  people  who  put 
themselves  out  so  much  on  our  account, 
I  might  tell  some  interesting  things  of 
Saghalien  and  its  inhabitants.  With- 
out, however,  giving  any  names,  I  must 
say  that  in  Saghalien,  even  more  than 
elsewhere,  the  Tchinovnik  [Government 
employee]  snaps  his  fingers  both  at  the 
interest  of  the  State  and  the  development 
of  the  country  he  is  called  upon  to  ad- 
minister. The  question  of  the  fisheries 
is  quite  typical  :  the  Japanese  had  no 
right  whatever  to  set  up  fishing  stations 
in  our  island.  Still,  they  had  done  so, 


THE  "  TCHINOVNIK  ';        157 

and  this  is  the  way  they  set  to  work. 
They  bought  from  a  Tchinovnik  a 
temporary  licence  to  fish.  The  latter 
pocketed  the  fee  and  then  shut  his  eyes, 
without  troubling  himself  any  more 
about  the  fish  which  was  leaving  for 
Japan.  And  this  is  how  the  Russian 
State,  without  getting  anything  in  re- 
turn, fed  the  whole  of  the  northern  part 
of  the  Japanese  islands.  Everything 
else  being  conducted  in  the  same  way, 
the  colony  was  fast  marching  to  its  ruin. 
No  one  could  be  found  in  Russia  to  work 
these  fisheries,  the  richest  in  the  world, 
properly  and  on  the  spot,  except  a 
certain  Kramarenko,  who  while  accept- 
ing a  subsidy  from  the  Government,  had 
found  it  more  simple,  and  above  all 
more  remunerative,  to  hand  the  concern 
over  to  the  Japanese.  But  he  had  an- 
other string  to  his  bow :  his  agents 
bought  from  the  natives,  for  a  few  packets 
of  tobacco  or  bottles  of  vodka,  sable 

TT* 


158         ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

skins,  which  he  sold  for  heavy  gold  to 
the  dealers  in  fur. 

We  had  been  on  shore  twenty-four 
hours  when  the  second  Japanese  cruiser 
appeared,  probably  the  one  who  was 
watching  the  La  Perouse  Straits  during 
our  action.  She  indulged  in  the  luxury 
of  riddling  the  Novik  with  projectiles, 
completing  thus  the  destruction  of  the 
little  that  remained  of  the  funnels  and 
superstructure.  Then,  merely  raising 
their  sights  without  altering  the  train- 
ing, they  bombarded  a  small  harmless 
village.  Finally,  before  departing,  they 
sent  a  few  shot  at  some  of  our  men  who 
were  strolling  along  the  beach. 

The  preparations  for  our  journey  kept 
us  at  Korsakoff  for  some  ten  days, 
during  which  time  we  collected  all  pack 
animals,  pack-saddles  and  bags  we  could 
lay  our  hands  on,  as  well  as  all  biscuit 
and  preserves.  On  30th  August  our 
caravan,  numbering  8  officers  and  270 


MARCHING  OFF  159 

men,  started  along  the  post  road,  headed 
by  the  band.  From  this  time  on  our 
bandsmen  never  parted  with  their  in- 
struments even  for  an  hour.  Forty-five 
men,  nearly  all  specialists,  were  left 
behind  at  Korsakoff,  first  to  remove  the 
guns  from  the  wreck,  then  anything  else 
worth  taking,  and  above  all  to  destroy 
the  hull,  in  case  of  an  alarm,  which  was 
actually  done  later  on,  when  the  Japanese 
landed  on  the  island. 

At  the  small  village  of  Solovieff,  five  or 
six  miles  from  Korsakoff,  we  took  leave 
of  the  inhabitants  who  had  accompanied 
us  so  far.  Our  first  halting-place  for  the 
night  plunged  us  in  despair.  There  are 
such  myriads  of  bugs  in  all  the  villages 
that  it  passes  one's  imagination.  One 
can  literally  call  Saghalien  one  huge  nest 
of  bugs,  and  I  generally  preferred  to 
spend  the  night  al  fresco. 

Vladimiroff  was  the  first  large  village 
we  came  across.  A  triumphal  reception 


160         ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

awaited  us.  Having  been  duly  warned, 
we  halted  about  half  a  mile  off,  so  as  to 
put  the  best  marchers  at  the  head  of 
the  column  ;  these  were  followed  by  the 
carts  and  the  main  body,  the  latter 
with  their  rifles  on  the  shoulder.  Our 
little  column  looked  very  well  as  it 
passed,  headed  by  the  band,  under  a 
triumphal  arch,  made  of  green  boughs 
and  adorned  with  an  enormous  placard 
labelled  "  Hurrah  for  the  Heroes  of 
the  Novik  !  "  After  speeches  had  been 
delivered  and  responded  to,  the  men 
were  led  to  the  village  square,  where  a 
regular  feast  had  been  prepared.  The 
officers  were  the  guests  of  the  village 
elders,  who  offered  them  every  kind  of 
entertainment.  There  were  a  good 
many  "  bad  heads "  in  the  morning, 
when  we  resumed  the  march,  which  took 
us  farther  and  farther  from  civilisation. 

The  stages  succeeded  one  another  in 
the  most  monotonous  fashion.     We  used 


CHILD-MURDER  161 

to  start  at  daybreak,  and  if  our  day's 
march  did  not  exceed  fifteen  miles  we  used 
to  cover  it  in  one  stretch.  Otherwise 
the  march  was  divided  in  two  parts,  of 
which  the  second  was  taken  towards 
evening.  I  generally  preferred  to  start 
before  the  others  in  the  night  with  the 
cooks,  who  had  to  have  a  meal  ready 
for  the  column  when  it  arrived  in  camp. 

The  second  night  we  halted  at  a  mill 
built  at  the  bottom  of  a  little  valley, 
on  the  banks  of  a  small  torrent,  which 
tumbles  out  of  the  woods  in  a  cascade. 
The  day  before,  a  murder  had  been  com- 
mitted there  :  a  workman  had  killed  a 
wretched  girl  of  thirteen  from  jealousy  ! 
We  had  the  pleasure  of  passing  the  night 
alongside  the  little  corpse,  as  no  one 
dared  touch  it  until  the  police  arrived. 

Next  morning,  Z.,  the  civilian  head  of 
the  district  of  Korsakoff,  arrived  at  the 
mill.  He  made  out  that  he  was  on  a 
tour  of  inspection  in  his  district,  whereas 


162        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

the  truth  was  that  he  had  fled  from  the 
Japanese  cruisers. 

From  this  point  the  post  road  merely 
becomes  a  track,  until  it  strikes  the 
beach  and  is  lost  in  the  sand.  When  we 
left  the  pretty  mill,  called  Great  Tokoy,  I 
had  started  as  usual  in  the  night.  It 
was  raining  cats  and  dogs  throughout 
the  eighteen-mile  march  and  we  were 
wet  to  the  skin  when  we  reached  the 
village  of  Galkin  Vrasky.  No  one  would 
open  his  door  to  us,  and  eventually  the 
keeper  of  the  jail  took  us  in. 

Next  morning  we  were  able  to  procure 
a  couple  of  Kungasses  (large  Japanese 
fishing-boats),  which  we  loaded  up  with 
some  of  our  provisions,  putting  in  charge 
such  men  as  were  footsore.  These  were 
ordered  to  establish  depots  at  several  of 
our  future  halting-places.  In  marching 
along  the  beach  we  repeatedly  came 
across  quicksands,  which  were  most 
uncanny  and  dangerous  things.  A  coin 


CONVICT-GUIDES  163 

thrown  down  was  quickly  swallowed  up. 
We  had  to  cross  many  streams,  and  when 
they  were  not  fordable,  much  delay  was 
caused  by  having  to  procure  small  boats 
or  make  rafts.  The  few  carts  we  still 
had  were  a  source  of  much  trouble. 
They  constantly  stuck  in  the  mud,  and  if 
the  horse  was  taken  out  of  the  shafts  it 
would  run  away  into  the  forest,  and 
when  finally  recaptured  found  to  be 
minus  its  harness,  which  had  to  be 
replaced  somehow. 

The  three  Caucasian  convicts,  at  the 
same  time  militiamen  of  Korsakoff,  who 
had  been  told  off  as  guides,  carried  out 
their  task  with  much  intelligence. 

We  spent  one  night  in  an  Aino  village 
and  were  very  agreeably  surprised  to 
find  the  hut  which  had  been  prepared  for 
us  (our  captain  had  spent  the  night  there 
a  few  days  before)  to  be  not  only  nearly 
clean,  but  actually  clear  of  vermin.  The 
explanation  was  that  the  owner  did  not 


164         ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

use  it  himself  but  rented  it  to  Japanese 
fishermen.  In  the  same  village  we  saw 
a  number  of  bears  being  fattened  up  for 
an  impending  festivity.  On  these  oc- 
casions the  people  of  the  surrounding 
districts  assemble  in  large  numbers  ;  the 
bears  are  let  out  of  their  wooden  cages 
one  at  a  time,  and  are  then  attacked  by 
the  braves,  who  wrestle  with  them,  throw 
them,  and  after  having  tied  them  up  with 
rope,  kill  them  with  arrows,  while  the 
rest  of  the  company  dances  around  and 
sings.  Wounds  received  in  these  en- 
counters are  highly  prized. 

A  few  days  later  we  reached  the  village 
of  Seraroko,  from  where  there  was  not 
even  a  path  for  us.  I  only  remember  one 
incident  there  :  the  evening  before  our 
arrival,  the  chere  amie  of  the  non- 
commissioned officer  in  charge  of  the 
military  post  had  shot  dead  a  soldier 
with  a  gun  loaded  with  buck-shot. 
Murders  c.rc,  however,  an  everyday 


A  PEACEFUL  SETTLER      165 

occurrence  in  Saghalien.  Eight  of  our 
halting-places  had  been  quite  recently 
the  scenes  of  such.  We  once  came  upon 
a  solitary  settler,  in  a  burnt-out  and 
deserted  village,  who  told  us  that  when 
he  was  short  of  money  he  simply  killed 
somebody.  As  leader  of  a  band  he  had 
committed  numbers  of  crimes  in  the 
south  of  Russia.  In  his  present  abode 
he  had  often  been  attacked  by  escaped 
convicts,  the  traces  of  whose  bullets 
were  to  be  seen  all  round  his  hut,  but 
the  powerfully  built  man,  despite  his 
sixty  years,  had  always  got  the  best 
of  them. 

From  Seraroko  we  had  to  cut  straight 
across  the  Taiga,  so  we  rested  for  twenty- 
four  hours  in  anticipation  of  a  trying 
march.  Our  next  stoppage  was  the 
Aino  village  of  Tchoko  Poronay,  from 
where  two  tracks  led  out  :  one  through 
the  forest,  the  other,  shorter,  along  the 
beach,  but  so  blocked  with  rocks  and 


166        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

other  obstacles  that  it  was  impassable 
for  horses  and  carts.  My  detachment 
went  by  the  latter  ;  it  poured  the  whole 
way,  and  I  was  very  glad  to  accept 
the  loan  of  an  old  convict  suit  from 
a  former  convict,  who  had  joined  up 
with  us. 

The  next  stage  was  twenty  miles 
through  the  forest,  and  to  give  an  idea 
what  the  country  was  like  I  may  mention 
that  in  this  distance  we  forded  147streams, 
big  and  small.  Their  steep  and  slippery 
banks  were  very  troublesome,  especially 
for  the  pack  animals.  The  scenery  was 
most  depressing  :  immense  trees  with- 
out branches  rising  out  of  a  marsh  in 
which  not  a  blade  of  grass  grew.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  day  I  pushed  on 
and  reached  the  banks  of  a  river  called 
Magoon  -  Katan.  The  opposite  bank 
looked  quite  inviting,  with  its  telegraph 
station,  round  which  a  number  of  huts 
had  sprung  up  like  mushrooms. 


THE  HOSPITABLE  MAJOR     167 

There  were  a  good  many  stragglers 
when  the  main  column  at  last  arrived, 
some  of  these  only  rejoining  in  the 
small  hours  of  the  night.  The  horses, 
too,  were  in  a  sad  plight  after  their  many 
falls. 

Before  starting  for  Naiero,  twenty-five 
miles  off,  we  put  those  who  were  footsore 
into  the  Kungasses,  which  had  rejoined. 
The  route  lay  along  the  beach,  and  at 
low  water  we  generally  had  firm  sand 
underfoot.  The  frequent  Japanese 
fishing  stations  made  convenient  halting- 
places  and  gave  us  occasional  shelter 
from  the  ceaseless  downpour. 

Naiero  was  the  headquarters  of  the 
Major  commanding  the  district.  He  met 
us  in  full  uniform  with  impeccable  white 
gloves  and  offered  to  put  up  the  officers 
at  his  house.  The  rooms  looked  well 
kept,  and  the  prospect  of  getting  once 
more  into  a  bed  were  delightful.  My 
feelings  can  therefore  be  imagined  when 


168        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

I  found  my  bed  literally  swarming  with 
bugs.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
join  our  convict-guides  in  the  hayloft 
over  the  stables. 

Before  leaving,  the  amiable  Major 
presented  us  with  a  formidable  bill  for 
all  we  were  supposed  to  have  consumed. 
We  threw  the  money  at  him,  together 
with  an  expression  of  our  opinion  of 
him  :  he  was  the  last  of  the  brigands  of 
the  Korsakoff  District  with  whom  we 
had  any  dealings.  Henceforth  we  only 
met  with  kindness  and  civility  from 
everyone. 

Whilst  the  main  column  traversed  the 
great  clearing  of  Onor,  through  which 
our  route  lay,  I  was  charged  to  transport 
the  arms  and  baggage  in  the  Kungasses 
by  the  river  Poronay,  with  the  prospect 
of  not  coming  across  a  single  human 
habitation  for  over  100  miles.  The  pack- 
horses  were  only  to  carry  provisions. 

My  eyes  therefore  never  rested  on  the 


RIVER  TRANSPORT         169 

famous  clearing  in  the  forest.  Natives 
told  me  that  Khanoff,  the  engineer  who 
made  it,  saw  all  but  ten  of  the  800 
convicts  under  his  orders  die  on  the  spot : 
quite  a  number  he  had  shot  with  his 
revolver  for  petty  cases  of  disobedience, 
but  the  bulk  simply  succumbed  to  the 
overwork  and  privations.  The  affair 
caused  a  stir,  and  Khanoff  was  tried, 
but  got  off.  The  work  never  progressed 
beyond  the  cutting  down  the  trees,  and 
the  road  has  still  to  be  made.  We 
lost  a  number  of  horses  in  this 
swamp. 

I  thus  parted  from  my  travelling 
companions  at  Naiero  with  forty-five 
bluejackets  and  reached  the  sea  at  the 
village  of  Tikomenieff,  where  I  requisi- 
tioned from  Kramarenko's  fishing  estab- 
lishment seven  large  Kungasses,  with 
which  I  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Poronay  by  20th  September.  The  sick- 
berth  steward,  who  had  volunteered  to 

12 


170        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

take  charge  of  one  of  the  boats,  managed 
to  capsize  her  in  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
and  all  her  cargo  went  to  the  bottom. 

I  spent  several  days  at  Tikomenieff 
to  prepare  for  my  journey  of  125  miles 
up  the  river,  my  chief  difficulty  being 
in  getting  sufficient  bread  baked  to  last 
the  whole  trip. 

We  made  our  start  on  23rd  September, 
pulling  up  stream  in  the  grey  dawn. 
The  sun  came  out  later  on  and  made 
the  unattractive  scenery  look  quite 
cheerful.  Our  river  navigation  was 
favoured  by  almost  constant  fine 
weather,  but  the  temperature  fell  con- 
siderably, which  we  felt  very  much,  as 
we  were  in  our  summer  kits,  without 
great-coats. 

The  three  Ainos  I  had  engaged  as 
pilots  took  three  different  branches  of 
the  river  the  first  day,  and  it  was  dark 
before  we  managed  to  join  up  again. 
We  discovered  that  the  salt  barrel  had 


A  SOLITARY  SETTLER      171 

been  left  behind.  Luckily  we  had  a 
cask  of  salt  meat,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  we  found  a  good  sediment  of 
salt.  We  spent  our  first  night  on  the 
driest  spot  we  could  find  on  the  bank, 
where  we  built  a  hut  with  boughs.  The 
night  was  so  cold  that  the  men,  who  had 
no  blankets,  had  to  lie  huddled  together 
close  round  the  fire,  where  they  were 
roasted  on  one  side  and  frozen  on  the 
other  by  an  icy  wind,  aggravated  by  a 
plentiful  dew. 

Soon  the  stream  became  too  strong 
for  pulling,  and  we  had  to  take  to  the 
poles.  Whenever  the  nature  of  the 
banks  permitted  this,  we  landed  half 
the  crew  and  made  them  tow  the  boats, 
which  however  frequently  grounded  on 
the  sandbanks,  and  this  used  to  give  rise 
to  much  chaff. 

About  half-way  we  were  astonished  to 
come  upon  a  hut,  out  of  which  appeared 
a  man  who  offered  us  bread  and  salt  [the 


172        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

Russian  welcome],  and  me  personally  a 
partridge  he  had  just  shot.  I  offered 
him  the  choice  between  some  money  and 
a  bottle  of  vodka,  but  he  declined  both, 
saying  he  preferred  a  handful  of  powder, 
which  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold  in 
Saghalien,  where  its  sale  is  prohibited. 
This,  however,  does  not  prevent  the 
settlers  from  living  entirely  by  their 
guns.  But  they  don't  get  rich  like  the 
man  who  gives  them  a  shilling's  worth 
of  bad  tobacco  for  a  sable  skin  he  can 
sell  for  twenty  or  thirty  sh  illings .  Thanks 
to  our  fatal  example,  alcohol  is  now 
beloved  by  all,  and  it  is  hard  to  say 
who  is  the  worst  drunkard  :  the  native 
or  the  settler. 

These  natives  are  remarkable  :  in  a 
very  small  region  one  can  find  types 
differing  in  habits,  language,  and  religion, 
such  as  the  Ainos,  Orochenes,  Juliaks, 
and  Tunguses.  Of  these  the  Ainos 
alone  inhabit  Saghalien,  where  they 


AINO  HABITS  173 

live  like  true  nomads,  without  fixed 
abode  and  wandering  about  the  Taiga, 
living  on  the  game  they  kill  and  the  fish 
they  sell  to  the  Japanese,  so  that  the 
war  has  nearly  ruined  them.  One  of 
my  Aino  pilots  told  me  some  interest- 
ing details  about  them.  Writing  is  un- 
known to  them,  and  each  generation 
teaches  the  next  one  verbally  the 
usages  and  rites  of  their  religion.  Theft, 
which  is  extremely  rare,  is  dealt  with 
by  a  jury  nominated  on  the  spot,  which 
always  pronounces  the  same  sentence : 
loss  of  the  culprit's  right  hand.  To 
my  question  what  the  punishment  for 
murder  was,  since  theft  was  already  so 
severely  dealt  with,  I  received  the  reply 
that  since  the  world  began  no  Aino  had 
ever  killed  another,  so  they  had  never 
to  consider  the  contingency. 

The  farther  we  got  the  more  the  river 
narrowed   and   became   torrential,    and 

the  towing  of  our  clumsy  craft  through 
12* 


174        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

these  rapids  was  a  wearisome  and  difficult 
job  ;  sometimes  they  broke  adrift  and 
had  to  be  chased  down  stream  for  some 
distance.  In  the  belief  that  this  river 
journey  merely  meant  sitting  on  a 
thwart  and  pulling  an  oar,  I  was  given 
all  those  who  were  footsore,  besides  the 
sick.  In  reality  these  poor  devils  spent 
all  their  time  wading  along  the  bank 
up  to  the  waist  in  icy  water. 

The  men's  boots  were  by  now  pretty 
well  worn  out,  as  regarded  the  soles, 
and  many  of  them  made  themselves 
sandals  out  of  the  hides  of  freshly 
slaughtered  bullocks,  of  which  we  had 
a  number  embarked  in  the  boats.  There 
was  much  chaff  about  the  cure  for 
sore  feet  by  means  of  continuous  foot- 
baths. 

The  farther  we  proceeded  the  more 
frequent  were  the  tracks  of  bears,  but 
what  with  laughter  and  songs,  my 
cheerful  men  made  always  so  much 


THE  BARRAGE  175 

noise  that  we  seemed  to  frighten 
these  animals  away  and  we  never  saw 
any. 

Before  reaching  the  halting-place  we 
used  to  send  on  ahead  a  small  native 
boat  with  the  cooks.  A  little  later  the 
big  boats  started  to  race  in  ;  I  generally 
led  in  my  boat,  but  if  any  accident, 
such  as  grounding,  delayed  me,  the 
band  insisted  on  receiving  me  with  a 
serenade,  the  echo  of  which  resounded 
through  the  Taiga,  and  must  have 
alarmed  the  natives,  to  whom  a  brass 
band  was  unknown. 

On  30th  September  we  found  our- 
selves at  the  famous  barrage,  of  which 
we  had  heard  such  bad  accounts.  For 
about  a  third  of  a  mile  the  river  was 
completely  covered  by  tree  trunks, 
brought  down  by  the  spring  floods.  The 
first  layers  had  grounded,  and  succeeding 
ones  had  piled  up  on  these,  so  that  now 
it  formed  a  dam  through  which  the 


176        ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

water  only  penetrated  with  difficulty. 
The  boats  would  have  to  be  transported 
overland  past  this  obstruction,  and  this 
proved  a  long  and  difficult  job.  A  path 
had  been  cut  through  the  forest  for  the 
purpose,  but  it  proved  to  be  too  narrow 
for  our  big  boats,  and  had  to  be  widened, 
whilst  the  ground  was  too  much  cut  up 
for  the  proper  working  of  the  rollers 
we  had  to  place  under  the  keels.  With 
song  and  laughter  my  splendid  fellows 
managed  it  all  right,  but  it  took  the 
whole  day. 

On  the  evening  of  2nd  October  we 
saw  at  last  the  first  indication  of  human 
habitation  :  a  woman  fishing  in  the 
stream.  She  was  greeted  with  joy  and 
much  chaff,  and  before  dark  we  found 
ourselves  at  the  village  of  Grodekoff, 
where  we  found  ample  means  of  pro- 
visioning ourselves. 

The  last  stage,  though  the  shortest, 
proved  the  hardest,  owing  to  frequent 


rapids,  through  which  the  Kungasses 
had  to  be  towed.  Two  of  them  parted 
their  towropes,  went  down  stream,  and 
in  the  end  one  of  these  was  capsized ; 
eventually  both  were  retrieved. 

The  goal  of  the  river  detachment  was 
Abramoff,  where  the  authorities  had 
made  every  preparation  in  the  way  of 
wheeled  transport  to  convey  us  without 
loss  of  time  to  Rykoff,  where  the  main 
column  was  awaiting  us. 

From  there  the  entire  column  once 
more  marched  off  in  proper  style,  and 
evoked  much  sympathy  and  interest 
on  its  passage.  We  marched  into 
Alexandroff  on  14th  October,  and  were 
received  with  bread  and  salt  on  a 
magnificent  engraved  dish.  A  banquet 
had  been  prepared  for  us,  followed  by  a 
ball  in  the  brilliantly  decorated  town 
hall. 

Winter  arrived  at  Alexandroff  at  the 
same  time  as  we.  Snow  fell,  and  a  keen 


178         ACROSS  SAGHALIEN 

wind  met  the  stragglers.  A  delay  of  a 
few  days  would  have  hit  us  hard.  The 
steamer  Tunguse,  which  was  to  transport 
us  to  the  mainland,  was  anxiously 
awaiting  us,  as  her  anchorage  in 
the  narrow  straits  was  an  insecure 
one. 

A  few  days  later  we  disembarked  at 
Nikolaieff,  twenty -five  miles  up  the 
Amur,  which  we  ascended  as  far  as 
Kabaroff  in  the  Tsesarevitch.  From 
there  we  proceeded  to  Vladivostok  by 
rail.  We  arrived  there  on  23rd  October, 
having  covered  just  400  miles  across 
Saghalien  in  forty-five  days.  This  is  a 
record  for  men  so  little  accustomed 
to  marching  as  sailors,  and  moreover 
we  did  not  leave  a  single  straggler  or 
sick  behind. 

So  fine  an  achievement  was  no  doubt 
due  to  that  feeling  of  comradeship  and 
the  pulling  together  which  obtained 
throughout  the  campaign  between  the 


ESSEN  AND  SCHULZ        179 

officers  and  men  of  the  Novik.  But  all 
honour  is  due  to  the  remarkable  impulse 
given  by  the  two  peerless  captains  under 
whom  we  served  and  who  are  called 
von  Essen  and  Schulz. 


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